The Stepbrother
by sweetEpie994
Summary: After Sonic's mother remarries, Sonic, unwillingly, gains a new father, Jules, and a new brother, Shadow. But what happens when this new 'older brother' starts to get a little too close to his new little brother, Sonic? Sonadow fanfic
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT OWN SONIC OR ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS IN ANY WAY.

**Author's Note: **Heyy, everyone! So, this is another story I've started for Sonic the hedgehog. And I PROMISE I'll finish my _Still in Love?_ fanfic. I just have a little bit of writer's block for that story. But it'll get done. Ha-ha. I've also started a SasuXSaku fanfic for Naruto just to see how that would go. It's not posted yet cuz I want to write a few more chapters before posting it, but it'll be up soon enough. Well, I hope you all enjoy! R&R! :)

* * *

_The Stepbrother_

* * *

"Sonic Hedgehog, for the last time; Pick. Up. This. **Room**!" was the sound of Sonic's mother, Bernadette's voice.

Whether the 16-year-old, azure and peach-colored hedgehog liked it or not, Bernadette was determined to make Sonic clean up his typhoon of a bedroom. Sonic crossed his arms and sighed.

"I don't even see why we gotta go through all this trouble for one stupid kid." The hedgehog complained with a scowl as he watched his mom move here and there.

"Sonic, you know I don't like it when you talk that way. And besides, you don't even know Jules' son. You might even end up liking him." Bernadette said still moving about.

Sonic's parents had divorced long ago while Sonic was still young. He hadn't remembered his father's face, let alone his name. And his mother refused to bring up any thoughts or memories of 'the deadbeat'. However, Bernadette had found love in a better man, a man named Jules, and he and Bernadette had been together for a couple years before they had finally gotten married, much to Sonic's dislike. Sonic never really openly expressed his objection to his mother's marriage, but honestly, he wished his mom _hadn't_ married Jules. And he would sometimes wonder to himself what would happen if his mom and his _real_ dad got back together. But there were two problems wrong with that:

1. Bernadette would never bring up Sonic's father's name, house address, or even appearance. She wanted NO recollection of him back in her life or her son's.

2. Bernadette was now married to Jules and there was absolutely no sign of them breaking up any time soon.

But, back to the story . . .

Jules had been living with Bernadette and Sonic for a while, seeing as though their house was bigger and more accommodating for them all. And at first it was just the three of them currently living together. But, there would soon be four. Jules and _his _ex-wife had a son. From all of what Jules told Sonic and Bernadette about him, the son's name was Shadow, he was 17 years of age, and by choice, he attended a far away boarding school since 9th grade. But, since Jules felt that he would be with Bernadette for a loooong time, he agreed that it was time for Shadow to start attending a public school and move in with the rest of them so they could all be a family.

So when Shadow apparently phoned his father to come and pick him up from the airport, Jules left the house to go pick up Shadow and bring him to his new home. And this was the cause of Bernadette's rushing around back and forth. She was trying to make sure everything was nice and clean for Shadow's first time seeing the place. No need to look like slobs, right?

Wrong according to Sonic. He didn't care about his new, so called 'stepbrother', nor did he care about his room being messy.

"Cheaa, right! Pfft . . . Shadow." Sonic continued. "The guy's _name_ sounds emo, so he must be stupid or something."

Bernadette stopped dusting for a second to turn to Sonic.

"Really, Sonic. Why can't you just cooperate for today?" She pleaded.

"Well, why'd you have to marry Jules?" Sonic questioned back. "Things were fine the way they were before you married . . ._him_! And I don't want a new stepbrother, either!" Sonic narrowed his eyes with his arms crossed more than ever.

Bernadette narrowed her eyes at her son. "Now, Sonic, I will not have you bad-mouthing your new stepbrother that way! And I will DEFINITELY NOT have you bad-mouthing Jules!" She said. Anyone could see that she was getting annoyed with her son's blatant disobedience to her and disrespect for their new family members. "I don't know why you're acting this way, but I do know that it's going to stop. Do you understand?" She stared Sonic in the face.

Sonic stared straight back into her eyes for a few seconds before replying. ". . .yes, mom."

"Good." Bernadette answered in a satisfied tone. "Now I want you to finish this room. As fast as you are, I have no clue why you're complaining about it being such a chore."

Sonic unfolded his arms, inwardly cursing at his mom for making such a scene. And for what? For two people he could care less about!

After Sonic threw around a few objects around his room out of anger, he burst around the room speedily as he picked up every single out-of-place object. As his mother had stated before, Sonic was fast. Very fast. And after all, he _was_ known as the fastest hedgehog around. There was no one ALIVE that could compare to his incredible speed.

. . .or so he thought.

When Sonic was finished picking up in his room, he headed for the door leading to the outside.

"I'm leaving, mother." He said in an almost acidic tone.

"Be back soon, son. It won't take them much longer to get back, and I want you here when they do." She said in a more pleasant tone than Sonic.

Sonic didn't quite catch what Bernadette had said, but he was so anxious to get out of the house, he didn't even care. And he slammed the door behind him.

**~.~.~**

At first, Sonic had no clue where he was going to go. He just knew he had to get away from his mother, and fast.

He didn't hate his mother, nor did he dislike her. He just hated the decision that she made to marry Jules.

'_Why does she have to marry him, anyway?'_ Sonic thought. _'She already has almost everything she needs. . .she doesn't need to re-marry. Humph!'_

Sonic thought his mother was making the worst decision of her life and for his. He could admit that Jules wasn't a bad person for his mom, but he just wasn't his father. And even though Sonic didn't even know who his father was, he still felt that he and his mother should be together.

Sonic also didn't like thinking of the fact that he would now have a new brother (or stepbrother). He kind of liked being an only child, and besides that, he practically already had a brother; Miles 'Tails' Prower. Tails, as he liked to be called, was an 8-year-old little fox that would always chase Sonic around when he was younger than he already was. He still had a little habit of tagging along with Sonic, but he did so a little less. Tails was also extremely intelligent which made him very mature for his age. . .most of the time. As far as Sonic was concerned, Tails was the only brother he needed. He didn't even know who this 'Shadow' kid was, but he had an idea that he wasn't going to like him very much.

As Sonic was thinking about his family predicament, he noticed he was walking in the direction of a familiar neighborhood; the neighborhood of the house of his little brother Tails.

'_Ah. I'll just stop by Tail's house, then.'_ Sonic thought to himself as he walked toward his direction.

As he reached Tails' doorstep, he knocked at the front door. After waiting for a few seconds, the front door swung open to reveal a golden-yellow fox with two tails moving about freely.

"Hiya, Sonic!" he greeted with a bright smile plastered over his face. Anyone could tell that he was excited to see his 'older brother'.

"Whatsup, little buddy." Sonic half-grinned at him with an obviously less amount of enthusiasm. This made Tails' smile fade and a slight look of worry appeared on his face.

"What's wrong, Sonic?"

". . .eh? Why do you think something's wrong with me?" Sonic questioned as if he really didn't know.

"Well, Sonic, it's not like you're painfully hard to read." At this, Sonic half-heartedly glared at the fox, but the fox continued. "And I mean, c'mon! Who wouldn't be happy to see _this_ face?" Tails pointed to himself and smiled smugly.

Sonic just stared at him for a second, and then replied. ". . .when did you become so. . .so sarcastic?"

"I dunno. Just a habit now, I guess. And let's not forget that I hang around you a lot."

'_Ugh. I gotta watch what I say around this kid.'_ Sonic thought and shook his head.

"Anyway, you never told me what happened." Tails said. Sonic walked over to Tails kitchen and helped himself to a glass and a drink. Because Sonic and Tails were best friends and like brothers, they had a 'your home is my home' type of relationship.

Sonic sighed and answered. "Well, Tails, as you already know . . . my mom is married to that . . . t-that . . . that. . ."

"You mean Jules?" Tails finished.

"Y-yea. That's what I meant."

"That's _who _you meant." Tails corrected. Sonic glared at him, again.

"Whatever, Tails. Anyways, he left our house this morning to go pick up his son, and . . ."

"He has a son?" Tails interrupted again.

"Yes, he has a son. His name is Shadow, and Jules went to go pick him up from boarding school. And apparently, he's s'posed to be living with us, now." Sonic said in a grim tone.

"But, why are you so unhappy, then. This means you'll have a new brother to talk to, and hang out with, and laugh with, and . . . and . . .hey, wait a second!" Tails paused. "A-am I being replaced?" Tails asked with a sort of dejected look on his face.

Sonic chuckled. "No way, little buddy! I would never replace you for some emo freak! Not for a million years." Tails let out a huge breath and replied with, "Phew! That's a relief." Sonic laughed at Tails before he made another gloomy sigh.

"I still don't see why you're disappointed at all this, Sonic. I mean if my parents divorced and found significant others, I'd be positively ecstatic."

Sonic lifted an eyebrow at the fox boy. "Ehhh . . . huh?" He questioned. Tails gave him a dull-eyed look.

"I'd be really happy for them." Sonic nodded in understanding. "So what's the problem?" Tails asked once again.

"I just don't want my mom to get remarried to anyone else. We're fine just the way we are. And we don't need Jules and his _damn son_ coming along and . . ."

Tails gasped and threw his hands over his ears. Sonic looked up at him with a puzzled look on his face. Suddenly, realization hit him and took a few steps over to Tails to uncover his ears.

"Oh, he-he! Sorry, Tails. I'll try not to let it happen again." Sonic reassured Tails that he would watch his language around the young kit. Tails smiled back and answered, "It's okay, Sonic."

"But like I was saying earlier, I don't want those two barging into our lives and ruining the order my mom and I have, already. We don't need them in our lives, anyways." Sonic crossed his arms over his chest and stated.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry you feel that way about all this." Tails replied earnestly. "So, when will he be over at your house?"

"I dunno. A few minutes, I guess." The blue blur responded. "And mom said she wanted me back home before he got there."

"Oh, okay. Well, I guess you're gonna be leaving now, huh?"

"Yea, I have to. But, you can come with."

"I can?" Tails exclaimed joy as if he hadn't been invited over Sonic's house millions of times. And he probably had if not a little less.

"Sure. I'll need someone to hang out with. I don't wanna be stuck by myself with emo-turd _all_ day, ya'know." Tails just laughed at this.

And they both began to walk towards Sonic's house.

_The Stepbrother_


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT OWN SONIC OR ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS IN ANY WAY.

**Author's Note:** Btw, guys, do I need to write a disclaimer for EVERY chapter? Just something on my mind. Please answer back, && enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

_The Stepbrother_

* * *

Sonic and Tails reached the house, walked in and shut the door.

Sonic threw both of his shoes off to the side recklessly, and Tails carefully placed his own shoes side by side, neatly, next to the front door. Sonic saw this and shook his head at his little brother.

'_What a wuss.' _He thought. _'He's gotta lighten up.'_

Tails grinned proudly at his tidiness and walked up beside Sonic. He soon regretted this because of what happened next.

"**MOM! I'M HOME AND TAILS IS WITH ME!"** He yelled at the top of his lungs, unconscious of the fact that Tails was right next to him, and probably close to losing his mind. Meanwhile, Sonic's mom came from down the hall, out of her room, and immediately began to glare at Sonic.

"What have I told you about yelling in this house?" Bernadette reprimanded. "And was it _sooo_ hard for you to just come and get me, instead? Hmm?

"Guess I didn't feel like walking." Was the blue hedgehog's reply.

Bernadette rubbed her temples and tried to remember where she had put the aspirin she took from the morning spat she had with her son. She loved her son, dearly, but was it so hard for him to behave?

"Well, I want you to go shower and make sure you're clean. Jules and Shadow will be here in about five minutes."

Sonic huffed and began to trudge off, assuring Tails he would be out in a minute.

"Oh, but Sonic . . . ?" Bernadette called.

"Yea, mom?"

". . . fix your sneakers, first."

Sonic huffed again and, lazily, went to fix his sneakers. Then once again, he walked off in the direction of the bathroom that was in his bedroom. Bernadette also let out a sigh before she turned to Tails and smiled. "Hello, Miles!"

"Hi, Mrs. Hedgehog." Tails greeted back. He preferred the name Tails over Miles, but as far as he was concerned, he didn't have a problem with Sonic's mother calling him that.

"So, did Sonic drag you over here and complain about today's upcoming events?" She asked, knowing that her son had already complained to Tails about Jules and his son.

"Well, actually, I decided to come. And Sonic did complain about today's events. Ha-ha!" He explained. "But I want to meet Jules and Shadow, today. Sonic makes them out to be a hindrance, but as much as I love him, (no homo) I decided I would figure that out for myself."

Bernadette smiled at this. "Well, that's good. I'm glad you choose to find things out for yourself instead of letting others make decisions for you." She said. "And I know you'll like the two of them just like I know that Sonic will."

And with that, she walked off to fix up the last few pieces of the house before the arrival of the visitors. And as she walked off, she thought, _'No homo? What does that mean?'_

**~.~.~**

As the minutes flew by, Sonic still remained in the shower, scrubbing and washing unconsciously. He wasn't unconscious of the fact that he was showering; he was unconscious of the fact that he was still in the shower fifteen minutes after he had first gotten in. The blue hedgehog hated water, but a shower was fine. He didn't like huge bodies of it, such as oceans or pools. He didn't even really like taking baths much unless he felt he needed it to relax.

While Sonic was in the shower, he was thinking about Jules and Shadow, again.

'_I wonder what my mom sees in Jules. What's so special about him that he has to come and ruin our family?'_ He thought. _'And why does he have to bring his deadbeat son along? I know he's gonna be trouble. I can feel it!'_

Sonic rinsed himself off and closed his eyes as he allowed the water droplets to freely hit and slide down his face.

'_I wonder when they're gonna be here. Mom said they'd be here in five . . .'_ Sonic stopped his movements for a brief moment before he realized just how long he was in the shower.

"Shoot!" He said to himself. "I was s'posed to be out like ten minutes ago."

He tried to hurriedly dry himself off, but his actions were futile. He, then, came up with the idea that he would sneak out the front door, and dry himself off with a quick 10-second run. _'I just hope they're not here, yet.'_ He thought to himself.

Sonic grabbed his towel, swung it over his shoulders, and reached for the bathroom doorknob. He turned the knob and walked out of his bathroom and into his actual room. He enjoyed having a bathroom in his bedroom because it was convenient for him to get up in the middle of the night. Another luxury of his bedroom-bathroom was that he would always, always, _ALWAYS_ have privacy, right?

. . . wrong!

As Sonic took a few steps toward the front of his bed where the bedroom door was, he somehow didn't notice a black figure walking toward him, or to where the bathroom was. And when the two collided, Sonic was the first to open his mouth.

"_Hey_, Tails. You should watch where you're . . . "Sonic left his statement unfinished as he began to look up at what was in front of him.

In front of the startled azure hedgie stood another hedgehog, except this one was black with red streaks laying here and there on his body. He had gold rings around his wrists, and he wore the sneaker/skates that Sonic saw every so often on those tv commercials. They looked nice up close, Sonic had to admit. The black hedgehog had a white tuft of fur on his chest, and his quills were much like Sonic's; but, all of Sonic's quills were flipped over. A few of this hedgehog's were flipped under. When Sonic looked up into the eyes of the stranger, he also had to admit that they were the most beautiful ruby eyes he had ever seen. But, he almost didn't notice how nice his eyes were because he was so focused on the stranger's mean-looking expression. He was scowling and looking as if he was filled with pure hatred. And he almost startled Sonic, again, when he opened his mouth to talk.

"First of all . . . my name is **not** Tails, it's Shadow. And secondly . . . I think it'd do _you _some good if you watch where _you're_ going, first." He stated.

Sonic's eyes widened for a brief second. _'Shadow . . . Shadow . . . where have I heard that name before?'_ Sonic wrestled with his mind to remember the answer. But as he was thinking, he didn't realize he was still staring in the eyes of the black hedgehog.

"Take a picture, idiot." The onyx hedgie exclaimed. "It should last longer."

Sonic slightly jumped, unconscious that he was staring hard at the hedgehog in front of him. Sonic's facial expression turned to that of annoyance and he opened his mouth to retort. But, the black hedgehog roughly pushed him to the side, and began walking toward Sonic's bathroom.

_His _bathroom. _**His bathroom?**_

'_MY BATHROOM?'_ Sonic thought. He quickly stepped in the way of Shadow's path. "And just where do you think you're goin?" Sonic asked, questioningly.

Shadow looked even meaner than he had a few seconds ago, if Sonic thought that was possible.

"What does it _look_ like, moron? I'm about to use the bathroom. Now, move out of my way." Once again, Shadow pushed Sonic, nearly knocking him into his own dresser. Using his speed, Sonic jumped in front of the black hedgehog and stood a few feet in front of the bathroom door with his arms spread out.

"Well, you can't _use_ my bathroom!"

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" Shadow asked angrily.

Sonic stood his ground regardless. "It's _my_ bathroom, and it's _my_ bedroom. So, whatever I say goes in here! And _I'm_ saying get the hell outta my room!"

'_Shadow . . . Shadow . . . Shadow . . .'_ Sonic still tried to remember but it was a failing effort.

Shadow opened his mouth to tell off the azure hedgehog, but he thought against it. And then, the corner of his mouth turned slightly upward into a smirk. He began to inch very slowly closer to Sonic. Sonic noticed his opponent moving closer to him, so he nervously began to back up toward the bathroom door. Shadow continued to move forward and Sonic continued to move back until his back came in contact with the door. But, Shadow kept advancing, the smirk evidently remaining on his face. He got closer and closer and closer until he and Sonic were just a few centimeters apart. Sonic's glowing, bright emerald eyes came in contact with Shadow's glittering ruby ones. Shadow placed one hand on the wall as close to Sonic as possible. The other hand moved slowly to Sonic's cheek, caressing it softly. Sonic jumped slightly and startled at the touch of Shadow's warm hand.

'_W-what is h-he d-doing?'_ Sonic thought, unable to keep his mind at ease. He was trapped not only by Shadow's body, but by his gaze as well. Sonic nervously licked his dry lips. Shadow's eyes caught the blue hedgie's wet tongue dart out of his mouth, and his eyes followed it until he returned back to the owner's mouth. Shadow chuckled lightly and it made Sonic uneasy. And then suddenly, Shadow began to lean his head closer to Sonic's. Sonic's eyes widened and he became scared of what he thought was about to happen next. He opened his mouth a little to protest against the black hedgehog, but the words just wouldn't come out. Shadow got closer and closer until his warm breath was just lingering on Sonic's lips. And then, just when Sonic thought the worst was about to happen, Shadow leaned past Sonic's lips and to his ear. His warm breath tickled another part of Sonic's body and Sonic shivered at this warmth.

Shadow chuckled again at this. He kind of liked the feeling that was emitting from his captive. And just as Sonic was wondering what would happen next, Shadow opened his mouth and whispered to Sonic.

"_Make me, bitch."_

Sonic's face slowly turned from frightened to confused all at once.

"H-h-huh?" Sonic stuttered.

Shadow pulled back to look at Sonic's face. "I said make me . . . bitch." He smirked.

At first, Sonic didn't know what Shadow was talking about. After Shadow scared Sonic with his little performance, Sonic's memory became a bit hazy. But then, it hit him. He remembered why Shadow gave him such a response.

_***Flashback***_

"_And just where do you think you're goin?" Sonic asked, questioningly._

"_What does it look like, moron? I'm about to use the bathroom. Now, move out of my way." Once again, Shadow pushed Sonic, nearly knocking him into his own dresser. Using his speed, Sonic jumped in front of the black hedgehog and stood a few feet in front of the bathroom door with his arms spread out. _

"_Well, you can't use my bathroom!"_

"_Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" Shadow asked angrily._

"_It's my bathroom, and it's my bedroom. So, whatever I say goes in here! And I'm saying get the hell outta my room!"_

_***End Flashback***_

And that was when Sonic's face turned from confused to furious. "Bitch?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

Sonic couldn't take it with this guy, anymore. He lost all control and tackled him to the floor. There was a loud _**THUD**_ that could be heard from anywhere around the house. Bernadette, Jules, and Tails popped up from their spots in the living room, and they ran to Sonic's room to see what was going on. When Bernadette threw the door open, she gasped at what she saw. Shadow was laying out on the floor while Sonic was straddling his hips. The whole scene would've looked a bit suggestive if Sonic didn't have his fist in the air looking like he was about to punch the daylights out of Shadow.

"SONIC! What are you doing on Shadow?" Bernadette yelled. "Get off of him! Is this anyway to treat your **stepbrother**?"

. . . stepbrother? Shadow? Sonic's eyes widened as he finally realized.

'_This BASTARD'S my STEPBROTHER?'_ Sonic thought. Just because he solved the mystery that was eating at him a few minutes ago, didn't mean he was any less angry as his 'stepbrother'. Shadow was ignorant to Sonic and that wasn't something that Sonic was going to easily forgive.

"But mom, he . . . "

"I don't wanna hear about it, Sonic. Now, get off of him."

Sonic turned from his mother to glare down at Shadow. Shadow was _still_ smirking at Sonic in a taunting manner. Sonic pulled up and got off of Shadow, annoyed.

"Now," Jules added. "You two need to learn to get along with one another. If we're gonna be a family, you two can't constantly be arguing with each other."

'_Who said anything about us being a family, anyway!'_ Sonic thought.

"Jules is right. So, keep it together, Sonic. And behave yourself."

She took Shadow's side. Sonic's own mother took Shadow's side. Wasn't she supposed to be on her son's side? Her real son's side? She didn't even give Sonic time to talk!

As Jules and Bernadette walked out of the room, Tails started to follow them. But then, he turned around to look at the blue hedgie.

"Coming, Sonic?" He asked.

Sonic nodded his head and Tails walked out the door. Just as Sonic was about to walk out of the room, Sonic's older stepbrother grabbed him by the arm and, inconspicuously but roughly, slammed Sonic into the wall beside the bedroom entrance. This went unnoticed by Jules, Bernadette, and Tails who were already out of the room. Shadow leaned down to Sonic's ear like before and whispered.

"Terrible how your own mom didn't hear you out, huh?" He whispered. "He-he! I just arrived at this house a mere half hour ago and she already likes me more than _you_."

Sonic became even more angry at hearing Shadow. He knew what Shadow was saying wasn't true. He just knew it. But, he _was _beginning to doubt.

"It's okay, though." Shadow continued to whisper. "Everyone falls in love with sooner or later. Even you will. I already know how much you enjoyed straddling me a minute ago." Sonic's face heated up and he blushed a bright red color. Shadow's chuckle at Sonic's immediate reaction made Sonic shiver, and Shadow proceeded to join the others in the living room.

'_I __**enjoyed **__straddling him? Yeah right! I wasn't even straddling that jackass!'_ Sonic thought, angrily.

Sonic calmed himself down really quick, took a deep breath, and walked out of his room to join everyone in the living room, also.

He could already tell that he was going to have a hard time dealing with his new 'brother'.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Hey guys ! Sorry it's taking forever to get chapters up. :( School sucks! I'm sure most of you know how it is . And I'm sorry if this chapter bores you a bit. I've been having some MAJOR writer's block on this fanfic for a lil bit. (Or typer's block. W/E) Ha-ha! Buuuuuuut, here's chapter 3! I hope you enjoy, and I can almost guarantee that it won't take forever to put up another chapter like it did this time. R&R&ENJOYYYYY! : )

* * *

_The Stepbrother_

* * *

Sonic walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Tails. Sitting across from him on the opposite couch were Bernadette, Jules, and the infamous Shadow. Sonic thought it best to stay as far away from him as possible after that . . ._ interesting_ incident to say the least, that happened to Sonic.

When Sonic thought about the situation again, Shadow lying on the floor underneath him, him on top of Shadow's hips, pinning him down, it brought an immediate light red hue of blush to Sonic's face. How could Shadow take the situation like that? Did he really think that Sonic would try something like this? They were **brothers** now!

Sonic didn't want Shadow to get any wrong ideas, but as Sonic thought more and more about his earlier troubles, he couldn't help the fact that his face was getting redder and redder.

Of course he was oblivious to the fresh rosy hue appearing on his face; but Shadow wasn't. The dark hedgehog had been watching Sonic all the way from the moment he stepped out of his room 'til the moment he sat down on the couch almost across from his own seat. There was something a bit . . . _intriguing_ about his new little brother. Something that interested _him_ in particular; he just couldn't put his finger on it, though. Shadow was the type of guy that liked to test things to see what would set them off, to see what would drive them crazy, to see what would push them to their limit. He liked to be under people's skin and make them nervous around him. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he just did and he liked it.

So when Sonic sat down on the couch and looked around nervously, Shadow kept his eyes locked on Sonic's, and he would continue to keep his eyes on Sonic until the blue blur would notice and, hopefully, go crazy. Shadow kept a blank look on his face as he bore his eyes straight into the emeralds across from him. He noticed that Sonic seemed to intentionally look at anything and everything_ but _Shadow.

'_No matter.'_ Shadow thought. _'He'll look at me soon enough.'_

Meanwhile, after Sonic plopped down on the couch, unaware of Shadow's little plan. Jules and Bernadette began to try to strike up conversation.

"So Sonic," Jules started. "How has school been so far for you?"

Sonic, who was looking down at his hands and twiddling his thumbs, looked up at Jules and answered, "Fine."

"Er . . . anything interesting happen Friday?" Jules tried again.

"Nothin' much." Sonic replied. "I got an A on my English test . . . we had a half-day . . . nothing new." He shrugged and said in a bored tone.

"Oh, well that sounds good." Jules agreed.

"Well, _I_ built a miniature space shuttle!" Tails boasted loudly and proudly.

"Wonderful, Tails! Way to use your . . . "Bernadette's praise was cut off by the golden-yellow fox.

"I know! I'm planning on building a life-size one to launch into space. I mean after all, my IQ _is_ one of the highest around. I think it's only fair I share my _brilliant_, genius mind with the world, right?" Tails, now, stood up from his seat, probably in some hope that this would further confirm his point. "And after that, I plan on making money building millions and MILLIONS of space shuttles. I just **know** I'll get rich off of 'em! And when I do, the WORLD will see the brilliance that **is** . . . Miles. Tails. Prower! Bwahahahahaha—**OWW!**"

Tails was interrupted by a swift, but striking hit to his noggin. He turned around to glare at the owner of his interruption.

"Sonic! What was that for?"

"Because! I love you an' all, but you're such a cocky know-it-all, sometimes. I've told you before and I keep telling you every time you do this. No one _cares_ about what you're gonna do with your life!." Sonic explained to him, quietly.

"Hmph! You're just jealous cuz you're not _doing_ anything with _your_ life." Tails mumbled about Sonic to himself and sat back on the couch.

"He-he . . . well . . . t-that's . . . that's very interesting, Miles." Bernadette stuttered.

"It is indeed." Jules agreed. "Why, I, myself, am becoming fascinated with the fields of space shuttle designing. As a matter of fact . . . " And as Jules went off on a tangent explaining to a fascinated Tails, Sonic let out an exasperated breath of air.

'_Why me?'_ Sonic asked himself as he looked around his surroundings. To him, it seemed he was almost always having the hardest time in life. It wasn't until he snuck a peek in Shadow's direction did he catch the ebony creature staring at him.

Sonic looked away fast, hoping and praying that Shadow would cast his eyes in another direction. But when Sonic took another brief glance, Shadow was still boring holes into Sonic. Sonic tried to force himself to look away from the source of his newfound discomfort, but he couldn't seem to find enough strength to. He looked back at the hedgehog with a confused look on his face.

'What?', he mouthed to Shadow, silently asking why Shadow was staring at him. But Shadow didn't answer. He just kept his eyes on his target, and began to smirk. This made Sonic even more uncomfortable, and he began to squirm, slightly. He bit his lip in exasperation wishing that Shadow would quit whatever charade he was playing. Sonic decided that he would just look away to keep himself from focusing on Shadow, but he found himself glancing back in Shadow's direction. Shadow was **still** staring at him. Another new and deeper shade of pink and red re-formed on Sonic's cheeks as he blushed, terribly. He rested his chin on his hand and attempted to cover up some of the blush with his hand, but to no avail. Shadow noticed all of Sonic's discomfort.

And he _loved_ it.

There was an indescribable feeling that was building up inside of him that he enjoyed. He had made other people uncomfortable before and he'd probably gotten a similar, if not the same, reaction. But Sonic's reaction was intriguing to him, even more intriguing than anyone else he'd ever messed with. Was it Sonic's reaction that intrigued him? Or was it just Sonic? He didn't know and he didn't understand why, but he decided that he didn't want this feeling inside of him to just vanish at the moment. So, he did what he felt he had to do to keep it alive inside him; he pushed to make Sonic feel more discomfort.

As Shadow continued to stare holes into Sonic's face, he lowered his eyelids in a successful attempt to make him appear a little more seductive. Sonic noticed immediately and began to tense up.

'_W-what is he d-doing? . . . why is he st-staring at me like that?'_ Sonic thought to himself while getting nervous by the second.

"What are you _staring_ at me for?" Sonic quietly tried to ask again, but it was of no use because Shadow wasn't talking. Sonic tried again to avert his eyes from Shadow's gaze, but he found it to be impossible to do so. As he stared at Shadow's eyes, he noticed that Shadow's eyes were scanning him up and down as if he was a delicious piece of meat or something. Sonic swallowed hard at this. Then Shadow re-made contact with Sonic's frightened emerald eyes again, and Shadow slowly and sexily licked his lips at Sonic.

Sonic moved around in his seat trying to find a position of comfort, but it was of no use. Shadow was getting inside of his head, and it didn't seem like anyone else noticed. Jules and Tails were still deeply engaging in their previous conversation, and Bernadette continued to smile and nod, occasionally sipping the tea that she had made for herself beforehand.

Sonic didn't know what to do. Little did Shadow know, Sonic was losing his mind and going crazy. Or did Shadow know? Was Shadow doing this to him on purpose? Acting weird . . . staring at Sonic . . . was all of this a game?

'_Stupid jackass!'_ Sonic thought, angrily. A whole twenty-four hours hadn't even passed yet and Sonic already loathed his troublesome stepbrother. He couldn't take a whole lifetime of this. He simply couldn't. And, once again, this was all his mother's fault. If she had just stayed single, none of this would be happening to him, he thought.

As Sonic came back from staring into space for that brief moment, he looked back at Shadow. And he was _**still**_ staring at him! And he had a wide smirk on his face, too!

"**WHAT DO YOU **_**WANT **_**FROM ME?**" Sonic stood up and shouted at Shadow.

Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing, and they stared at Sonic as if he had grown three extra heads right then and there. Everyone except for Shadow. Shadow couldn't have had a more satisfying look on his face.

"Sonic?" Bernadette started. "A-are . . . are you okay, son?"

"NO! Sh-shadow . . . h-he . . . he kept . . . he was . . . m-make him leave me alone, mom!" He stuttered trying to find the words to explain.

"But honey . . . Shadow hasn't done anything. He was sitting there the whole time, minding his business."

"That's not true! Tell her!" Sonic demanded of Shadow.

Shadow closed his eyes for a brief few seconds, shook his head and chuckled; he then opened his eyes and began to speak. "I think you're son's delusional, Bernadette." He stated in his deep, sexy voice that was currently threatening to drive Sonic up the wall. "I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about."

Sonic shook angrily and stalked toward Shadow.

"You little LIAR! Why I yotta . . . "Sonic was interrupted.

"SONIC!" Bernadette called. "That's _more_ than enough! Why must you _always_ be so disruptive?"

Sonic stared at his mother in annoyance before turning and stomping toward the front door.

"And just where are you going? . . . Sonic? SONIC!" The azure hedgehog simply ignored his mother and continued out of the door, slamming it on his way out. Meanwhile, a triumphant, onyx hedgehog was reclining on the couch, sneakily smiling, and proud of his achievement.

'_This is just the beginning.'_ Shadow thought to himself.

**~.~.~**

Somewhere along a busy sidewalk in Emerald City, a fed-up, blue hedgehog could be found.

This had been the second time that Sonic had stalked out of the house that day, and it was the second time that his 'brother' had irritated him. Two was such an unlucky number for Sonic at the moment.

"Stupid bastard. He comes in _my_ house trynna screw up _my _life! And I've never even done anything to the freak!" Sonic talked to himself.

He ignored the confused or disturbed stares that he received from the pedestrians he passed by along the walk. He realized that he had left Tails at the house, but he didn't care at the moment. Besides that, not only did it look like Tails was enjoying himself within the company of the adults, Sonic made up in his mind that he needed some time to relax and just unwind. And he figured that he wasn't going to get what he wanted back at his house, which was the complete opposite of what Sonic needed at the moment.

Sonic continued to walk up the sidewalk and pass a numerous amount of stores, malls, and food restaurants. Although Sonic's home was located in a peaceful area, taking a few turns around his block would reveal how busy his home location could truly be. Emerald City was a favorite place known by the public, and Sonic lived nearly two minutes from possibly the biggest city in Mobius.

'_*sigh*_ _I shouldn't be getting this mad.'_ Sonic thought to himself. _'I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, the world's biggest and fastest hero. What do I look like getting upset over somethin' so stupid!'_

As Sonic began to unwind even more, the thought of Shadow slowly drifting away, he started to pass his favorite location in almost all of Emerald City: Lily's Chili Dogs.

Sonic the hedgehog was not only known for his speed and nobility, but also for his **insane** love for chili dogs. One day, he decided to try the place out and ever since then, he hadn't been able to stay away from the place. Not only did he discover his new favorite fast-food restaurant, but he also made friends with the teenage cook of the place, Lily the Cat. Sonic immediately opened the door to the shop and walked right in. He sat down on one of the stools by the counter and ordered.

"Hey there, Sonic!" the cute, pink-eyed, golden cat greeted. "What'll you be gettin' ?"

"The usual." He responded.

"Of course you are." She answered with a smile and disappeared into the kitchen. "Be right back with that order."

As Lily left, Sonic propped his elbow up on the counter and leaned on his hand. This was nice for him, being able to get away from the turmoil for a few moments. Even though the city was noisy, it was peaceful to him compared to the strife he had to deal with back at home. No troubles. No worries. No noise.

"Hey, doofus." A deep, booming voice called out to Sonic.

Sonic sighed and slouched on his stool, putting his head down in his arms on the counter. He knew that voice. It could only belong to one person.

"What are _you _doing here, Knuckles?" Sonic demanded wearily.

Knuckles was a red echidna, strangely one of the only few of his kind. He had a crescent-moon shaped tattoo on his chest and two razor sharp claws on each of his knuckles. He was also the guardian of a very big and powerful jewel called the Master Emerald, which was a very important jewel that had been in his family for generations. Where Knuckles lacked Sonic's speed, he made up for with his inhumane, incredible strength. He was one of Sonic's best friends and Knuckles was always there when it seemed like Sonic needed him.

"Oh, I'm fine, Sonic. Thanks for asking." He responded, sarcastically. "Y'know, I always knew you to be so kind and caring."

"Well, you called me doofus when you walked in, so it's only right." Sonic remarked.

Knuckles made a face and then continued. "Anyway, I was walking down the street to go back home, but I saw you dragging your way here. And you don't usually come here upset. What's wrong, dummy?" He nudged Sonic on the back.

"Nothin." Sonic mumbled.

"Don't lie to me. Besides, you're not good at it. Now, what's wrong?" He asked once more.

"Everything." Sonic replied. "My mom, her b- . . . b-boyfriend . . . "Sonic struggled. ". . . and my stupid _stepbrother_!" Sonic spat the last word out with disgust.

"Stepbrother?"

"Yeah. His name's Shadow. Jules decided to surprise us by pulling his secret son out of his pocket and telling us he's gonna live with us."

"Hn. Sound's . . . terrible?" Knuckles said in a confused manner.

"It _is_ terrible! The guy's nothing **but** bad news! He came in my room uninvited, he lied to my mom, and he tried to flir- . . . "

". . . yes?" Knuckles waited for Sonic to finish.

". . . h-he's . . . he's just bad, that's all you need to know." Sonic finished, looking down and twiddling his thumbs. He couldn't tell Knuckles that his stepbrother tried to flirt with him. Is _that _what Shadow was doing? Was he even flirting with Sonic? Or was he just trying to get the best of him? Sonic didn't even know, but he decided that before telling_ anyone_ what happened, he needed to make sure he wasn't just jumping to conclusions.

"Hmm, well. I guess I should meet this kid and find out for myself then, huh?" Knuckles pounded his fist into his hand. "If he's making my best friend annoyed, and I use the term _best friend_ loosely . . . " Sonic glared at the echidna for his facetious remark. ". . . then I guess I should have something to say to the moron. It's only right! So where is he? Your house?" He questioned.

"Yeaa." Sonic replied. "But, you'll see him in school tomorrow. So don't worry about it today, I guess."

"Mkay. Fine by me. But, make sure he doesn't annoy you too much when you guys are sleeping in the same house tonight. Cause then I would have to pound him for taking my job of annoying you." Knuckles exclaimed as a smirk arose on his face.

"Shut up, Knucklehead!" Sonic replied in a playful tone.

"He-he! Whatever. See ya." Knuckles waved and walked out of the shop.

Sonic shook his head at his friend, the term loosely used by Knuckles. Sonic and Knuckles had a hate-love relationship; sometimes they loved each other as brothers, and other times they would fight and they wouldn't be able to stand each other as brothers. But all in all, they would always have each others back. Thinking of the relationship made Sonic smile to himself. But then, the smile suddenly disappeared, and he replayed in his mind what Knuckles had just reminded him.

_**Flashback:**_

"_. . . fine by me. But, make sure he doesn't annoy you too much when you guys are sleeping in the same house tonight . . . "_

_**Flashback Ended.**_

Oh snap.

'_Shadow's . . . Sh-Shadow's sleeping in the same house with me tonight. Great.'_ He thought.

Sonic leaned his chin on his hands and some of the uncomfortable feelings he had before Knuckles arrival came crawling back again. And just before he had the chance to remember about his food . . .

"Order up!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Hey , guys. I told you it wouldn't take forever for me to write and upload another chapter like last time. And these weekends really help, too! Ha-ha! But I just wanted to inform you guys that I'll keep writing and uploading as fast as I can with school and other stuff. And also, if I start thinking of chapter names for each chapter of my story, I might put some up there. Maybe. Another also, I know I said I would be making a Naruto (SasuXSaku) fanfic, and I will. I just gotta do things one at a time, though. And I'm also gonna continue my first story _Still in Love?_ so those who are looking for that to continue, just pleeease bear with me a little longer. : ) Also(x3), like one of my reviewers did, please feel free to tell me if I start getting a little off track with my grammatical errors. I WILL fix those. There's nothing worse to me than a great story with an excellent plot, but terrible grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization errors. It just confuses things! XD Soooooo, here's chapter 4! . . . R&R&Enjoy! : )

* * *

_The Stepbrother_

* * *

After Sonic finished his delicious lunch at Lily's, he wasn't ready to go home just yet. So, he walked around the city for a bit and after a few hours of total solitude, Sonic made his way home. He wasn't anxious to get back, and he wasn't anxious to receive the 'warm welcome' that he received when he made it back home.

"Sonic Hedgehog! There you are! Do you know it is after ten-o-clock?" Bernadette scolded. "We had to walk poor Miles home because _you_ weren't there to take him, instead! Now, just where were you, mister?"

Sonic looked down and breathed heavily before lifting his head back up to look at his mother.

"Well?" She asked.

" . . . I was . . ." Sonic stopped before he could finish. When he took a look behind Bernadette, he saw Jules sitting on the couch with what was supposed to be a worried look on his face, and he saw Shadow. Sitting on a stool by the kitchen counter was Shadow, teasingly smirking at Sonic as if to say, '_You're in trouble, now! Hahaha!'_

Sonic immediately scrunched up his face, walked past his mother, and to the black hedgehog.

"And just what are you laughing at?" He demanded.

"Sonic! Leave him out of this. This has nothing to do with him and everything to do with you!" said Bernadette.

"It does **too** have to do with him." Sonic retorted. "If he wasn't here, maybe our lives wouldn't be _completely_ ruined!"

Bernadette and Sonic stared hard at each others eyes. Sonic staring because of how annoyed he was with his mom and the whole situation, and Bernadette because of how exasperated she was with her son's antics. She was fed up for the day.

"Okay. I can't take this anymore. Sonic, go to your room." She pointed toward the place she wanted him to go. "It's almost past your bedtime, anyway. I can't believe you stayed out that late on a school night!"

Sonic trudged toward his room to get to bed; he didn't forget to give Shadow a nasty look when he passed by him, either. But, Shadow looked as if he didn't care, and he showed it by wearing a triumphant grin on his face as the blue hedgie passed.

"Hey, Shadow," Jules called out.

"What?"

"Since you start at your new school tomorrow, I think you should hit the hay, too. You don't want to be too tired, after all."

"Whatever."

"You'll be sleeping in Sonic's room, sweetie." Bernadette instructed. "And tell him to share his bed with you until we can buy you one. It's more than enough for _three_ people to sleep on." She shook her head.

Shadow's frown instantly turned into a smirk as he slowly began to walk down the hall toward the bedroom.

"'Kay. G'night."

"Good night, son."

"Good night, sweetie."

And with that, Shadow was down the small hallway.

"Aah. Shadow is such a sweetie, Jules."

"He-he. Sometimes."

"More often than not, it seems. I just wish his good behavior would rub off on Sonic." She stated.

**~.~.~.~**

Meanwhile in the bedroom, Sonic was preparing his bed while mumbling and complaining to himself about recent events.

"Hmph! I hate that kid . . . such a pain in my ass." He continued to complain, quietly. "I _**hate**_ him! How is it possible to hate someone this much in less than 24 hours?" Sonic ruffled his sheets and beat his pillows, angrily. All he wanted to do forget about his entire, lousy day. Sonic climbed into his bed and tucked himself under the sheets. After he reached over to turn off the light on his nightstand, he simply lay back on his big bed and took in his surroundings. His door was slightly cracked open allowing a little bit of light from the family room to shine through. Sonic's room was pretty nice size, not too big and not too small. A rich teal colored paint covered the walls all around him. He had two chestnut nightstands on his side of his bed, each stand carrying a lamp. His wide, six-drawer chestnut dresser stood across from his bed, and a mirror hung on the wall directly above it. His 'convenient bathroom', beside the closet, was to the left of his bed and two windows were on the wall to his right. Sonic loved how the moonlight would shine brightly and beautifully through his windows at night; the light would hit at just the right angle on his bed and he adored it.

'_Ahhh. I love this. Total peace and quiet.'_ He thought to himself and sighed. The beautiful scenery through his window almost made him forget about the problem at hand.

Until . . .

Sonic's door opened quickly and as Sonic looked up, he could see the silhouette of the 'new problem' in his life. Shadow the hedgehog stood leaning against the door frame of Sonic's bedroom. He looked calm, collected, and he held a tricky-looking smirk on his face.

"Ugh. What are _you_ doing in here?" Sonic asked in an annoyed tone and sat up in his bed.

"Aww. Is that any way to speak to your older brother?" Shadow mocked, a look of feigned hurt on his face.

"_**Half**_-brother." Sonic corrected. "And don't forget it."

"He-he. Whatever, Blue."

"**Don't** call me that." Sonic hissed.

"Fine then, Nicky." Shadow smirked again.

"Nicky?" Sonic's scrunched his face and said.

"So-Nic . . . Nic-ky. Get it, stupid?"

"I'm **not** stupid! And don't call me Nicky, jackass!"

Shadow just stared in amusement at Sonic and chuckled. "Oh, Sonic, Sonic, Sonic . . . " Shadow started. ". . . as I said before, I _am _your older brother, now. And I think you should be a little nicer to me and treat me with more respect."

"Well, who cares what you think." Sonic laid back down on his pillow. Shadow shook his head and advanced toward Sonic's side of the bed.

"Hn. Still contradicting what I say, huh?" Sonic looked up and noticed that Shadow was getting closer to him.

"Why are you coming over here? And you still didn't answer my question from earlier; what are you in my room for?" Sonic stared Shadow in the eye as hard as he could, but he couldn't help but get distracted by the way the moonlight was reflecting on Shadow. When the older hedgehog walked over to Sonic's side of the bed, he unconsciously stopped and stood in the spot where the moonlight would shine on Sonic's bed. And instead of reflecting off of the piece of furniture, it shined on Shadow.

"Well, if you must know, dear little Nicky, Bernadette informed me that I would be sharing a room with you for the time being. Isn't that great?" Shadow teased. He already knew what Sonic's reaction would be, and he hadn't even known Sonic for that long a time. The blue hedgie was just so predictable, sometimes.

" . . . **WHAT?**" Sonic stared at Shadow in horror. Was he hearing right or did his mother really just stab him in the back?

Shadow was once again amused by Sonic's actions and expressions. "Yes, I couldn't believe it, either." He said in his smooth, deep voice. "And you can just _imagine _my surprise when she told me that your bed was _soooo_ big, I would be sleeping in it with you, tonight. Or so your mother said." He said with a small grin.

Sonic's mouth dropped open. He was speechless to what he was hearing. " . . . y-you're sleeping . . . where?"

"You heard me. I'm sleeping with you." He said in a husky tone.

Sonic's face immediately lit up and turned red at this statement. He knew that Shadow didn't mean what it sounded like, but he couldn't help thinking the wrong way. Shadow noticed the look on Sonic's face after he had said what he said, and his face lit up in another one of his famous smirks.

"What's wrong, Nicky?" Shadow reached out to touch Sonic's forehead. "Your face is all red. Could you be getting a fever or something?"

Sonic shivered at his sexy stepbrother's touch and looked up into Shadow's eyes. And yet again, he got lost in them. A part of Sonic knew he was staring into his brother's beautiful ruby eyes without cease and he didn't want to stop but the other part snapped him out of it and Sonic averted his eyes, quickly.

"N-no. I'm not sick. And I told you to stop calling me Nicky." Sonic snapped. "That's not my name." Sonic threw Shadow's hand off of his head. But, Shadow took it a step further; he climbed onto the bed and onto Sonic. He stood on his knees, both legs on opposite sides of Sonic. Shadow was now in a straddling position on Sonic's hips that made Sonic feel very uncomfortable.

"Now now, little brother, there's no need to be so hostile toward me, is there?" Shadow asked in an innocent, but sexy tone. Sonic swore his heart rate sped up by a million beats a minute at the closeness of the two. Why was his stepbrother having this effect on him?

"After all . . . " Shadow continued. "I'm only looking out for you." Shadow slowly pulled down the quilt off of Sonic, and allowed his hands to roam slowly and softly on Sonic's chest.

"W-well . . . d-don't. A-and besides, I don't want you slee- . . . sl-sleeping . . . w-with me." Sonic stuttered, terribly. He blushed even harder when he thought about what had been said again. And yet again, Shadow noticed the darker hue of pink on his cheeks.

"He-he. You wouldn't be thinking dirty thoughts now, would you, little brother?" Shadow asked teasingly. "Because you seemed like _such_ a good little hedgehog at first, and thinking thoughts like that . . . well, that would make you a very naughty little hedgehog." Shadow's hands moved from Sonic's chest to his stomach. "Wouldn't it, little brother?"

" . . . u-um . . . " Sonic was definitely not very coherent at the moment. Shadow was having a terrible effect on Sonic that didn't seem to be wearing off any time soon.

"Or do you like being a little naughty?" Shadow questioned, quietly and sexily. His hands were slowly but surely traveling lower and lower on Sonic's body. Sonic's lower area was beginning to feel a little warm to him, too. He began to worry about having a little 'bulging' accident in his pants.

"N-no . . . I-I don't, Shadow." Sonic almost whispered.

Shadow lowered his head to Sonic's ear and whispered. "You and I both know that's not true." Shadow's hands were officially too close to Sonic's personal area and Sonic was almost a little too aroused by his stepbrother's actions. And just when Shadow had hit the spot right above Sonic's pleasure area, Sonic closed his eyes and leaned his head back, slightly.

"Sh-Shadow . . ." Sonic moaned softly.

Shadow's ears perked up to what he had just heard; Sonic had just moaned his name. Shadow immediately knew that things were getting taken a little too far and he jerked his hands off of his little brother.

'_Damn. This was all supposed to be a little joke. And I took things too far.'_ Shadow thought to himself.

He took a look down at the hedgehog underneath him; Sonic was breathing a little quicker than before, and his face was even redder than it was a few minutes ago. His eyes were half-lidded, but his bright, gorgeous, emerald eyes, staring up at Shadow, still sparkled so that Shadow was able to see. And now, it was Shadow's turn to get a little caught up in what he saw.

'_Wow.'_ Shadow thought. _'His eyes are beau- . . . wait! What am I thinking?'_

Shadow swiftly got off of Sonic and onto the side of the bed beside the azure hedgehog, leaving him speechless.

"Well anyway, I'm tired." Shadow exclaimed. "I'm going to sleep." And just like that, Shadow got under the covers and laid his head two pillows away from Sonic; a length of six pillows could stretch across the bed, width-wise.

"G'night . . . Nicky." Shadow whispered with a smirk and chuckled.

After Sonic puffed in an annoyed manner at his new, hated nickname, he stared up at the ceiling for a few moments to contemplate what happened a few minutes ago. His breath finally caught back up with him, and his face, for the most part, returned to its normal color. But, Sonic still couldn't shake what had just happened. Shadow was just all over him. In a sensual manner. And they were **brothers**. They were stepbrothers, but they were brothers, nonetheless.

Sonic knew it was going to be impossible to sleep that night. But that was the least of his worries.

Because when he woke up, he knew it would mark the beginning of possibly the rest of his life with his new sexy stepbrother, Shadow the hedgehog.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Hey, readers. I'm sorry this chapter is posted uber-late. But, school is a top priority for me, so it comes first! HAHAHA (It has to. My parents will kill me -_-)

Annnywhooooo, I just want to really thank EVERYONE for my reviews because I enjoy them so much and I also enjoy the fact that you guys seem to be enjoying my story. I, personally, think that it could be better, but it's my first fanfic, so I decided not to _completely_ beat myself over the head with my shoe if it doesn't turn out exactly how I want it, y'know? And one more thing, I know there are rules about this that I can just probably read, but can someone tell me how I can keep my fanfics from getting taken off of the site, pretty please with cherries? I read that some people's fanfics got taken off, and I had no idea why. Wellllll, obviouslyyy (in my Huntsville rapist song guy voice; haha –if you don't know what it is, youtube it.) plz R&R! ENJOY! : )

P.S.- You guys can count on me having one or two more chapters up during my 2 weeks of Christmas break which I think starts next week! ; )

* * *

_The Stepbrother_

* * *

_*Beeeep* *Beeeep* *Beeeep* *Beeeep* *Beee-_**BOOM!**_*_

Sonic's hand instinctively slammed on the noisy alarm clock sitting on his nightstand. It obviously wasn't nighttime anymore and Sonic knew that the ringing of his alarm clock meant that it was around six in the morning and it was time to wake up.

Just a few seconds after he had silenced his alarm clock, he struggled to open his eyes. When he opened them halfway, he brought his right arm up to shield his eyes from the brightness of the sunlight peering through his window. He opened his mouth to let out an ear-to-ear yawn and he opened his eyes a little wider. However, when he tried to bring his left arm up to his face, he felt a force on the left half of his body that prevented him from doing so. Confused, Sonic looked to the source of his struggle and instantly found the answer. His eyes, finally open almost as wide as they could go, were the size of oranges when he discovered the hindrance. Holding down half of Sonic's body, from his left shoulder all the way to his left leg, was his stepbrother, Shadow, lying peacefully on his little brother.

Sonic's cheeks flared red as the past night's actions came flooding back to him like a tidal wave. He shot his arm out from under Shadow like fire, and Shadow began to stir. He slowly lifted his head up from its resting spot and he sat up, rubbing his eyes in a half conscious state and yawning tiredly as Sonic had previously done. With half-lidded eyes, he innocently asked, "What's going on?" He could barely identify his brother's blushing figure sitting in front of him. Everything was hazy and blurry for a moment. "Sonic. What are you doing up?" He questioned some more.

"I-it's time to get up." He replied.

"Oh." He simply answered. His eyes had opened wider with every few passing seconds until they were finally open enough for him to see. "What's wrong with you?"

" . . . why are you asking me that?" Sonic questioned, nervously. He wondered why it was that his stepbrother seemed to be able to read every one of his facial expressions. Shadow was looking him up and down as if he was studying Sonic or trying to figure him out. They sat there on the bed; Sonic was avoiding Shadow's gaze as hard as he could manage, and Shadow simply sat there examining Sonic before he finally replied.

"Your face is red." He answered, bluntly. "And you're acting weird and stupid, again."

Sonic's blush soon faded away into a face of annoyance. "Nothing's wrong with me." He stated as he got up out of the bed and walked toward his bathroom to wash up. "And I'm not acting stupid!"

"It's okay if you admit it. You would only be acting what you are." Shadow replied, smugly. Sonic turned his head to glare at Shadow.

"Look, you emo-idiot. I'm probably one of the smartest hedgehogs you'll ever meet in your miserable life. I'm just about as stupid as the sky is blue!" He stated proudly before he realized what he had said. " . . . w-wait. Th-that didn't come out right . . . I meant . . ."

Shadow's chuckling interrupted Sonic. "I wouldn't say anything more to further prove my point if I were you." Shadow finally got off the bed, also, and began to walk toward Sonic in long slow strides. "And besides, shouldn't you be worrying more about getting ready for school and less about trying to impress me? Hmm?" Sonic and Shadow's faces were now mere inches away from each other. Shadow was standing a couple of inches taller than Sonic, and Sonic was trying to figure out why and how he ended up backed into the wall beside his bathroom, again.

"I'm . . . I'm not trying to . . . impress you. I was just— "

"You were just what?" Shadow interrupted, again while looking into Sonic's emerald orbs.

"I was just . . . I was just going to go and get dressed, now." Sonic quickly slipped out of Shadow's trap, ran into the bathroom, shut the door, and locked it. The next noise that Shadow heard was the shower water running. He laughed to himself at his little on-the-spot scheme of making Sonic feel uncomfortable. He loved the reactions that emitted from his little stepbrother. Sonic was just so easy to mess with! Shadow opened the door of the bedroom and walked down the hall to take a shower in another one of the three bathrooms of the house. As much as he was having fun bothering Sonic, he knew he had to prepare for school.

**~.~.~**

A few minutes after Shadow had gotten out of the shower, he walked back to Sonic's bedroom with sexy black jeans on and a towel swung around his neck. When he opened the door, he quietly gasped at what he saw. Right in front of him was Sonic the Hedgehog. Nothing was _completely_ out of the ordinary . . . except for the fact that Sonic was totally bent over on the floor reaching for something under his bed. Sonic clad in a plain green T, a navy blue jacket, and his underwear and nothing more. Shadow had an incredible view of the blue hedgehog's behind, and he struggled to keep his jaw off of the ground.

'_Damn! What an ass!'_ Shadow thought. _'It's all I can take to keep from pinning him down and giving him a heated . . . hard . . . merciless fu—'_

"PERVERT!"

That was all Shadow heard before a hard punch knocked him straight into the wall. **SMACK!**

"What was that for, you asshole?" Shadow demanded acidly.

"Because you're a _pervert_!" Sonic mimicked, using his hands to shyly cover up his already-covered backside.

"How do you figure _I'm _the pervert when **you** were the one bending over when _I_ walked in?" Shadow asked.

"You could've at least warned me you were coming!" Sonic retorted while putting on and pulling up his blue jeans.

"Right. Because I usually send warnings to people before I walk inside of rooms." Shadow said, sarcastically. "You really are an idiot." He shook his head and walked to retrieve his shirt.

"And you're an emo-freak!" Sonic picked up his book bag and almost made his way to the door, but Shadow grabbed his arm from behind.

"HEY! What are you—OOF!" Sonic grunted as he was slammed to the floor on his back and pinned down with Shadow on top of him, once again.

Looking up, he, all too well, recognized a sinister smirk plastered on Shadow's face. Sonic wore a look of confusion on his face because he was unaware of Shadow's motives. Suddenly, Sonic felt a rough tug on the button area of his jeans and his face lit up with surprise.

"Sh-shadow! What are you doing?"

"I'm about to show you just how much of an _'emo-freak'_ I can be." Shadow explained and chuckled darkly.

Sonic gasped and attempted to pry Shadow's hands off of him, but it didn't give him much assistance. Shadow laughed at Sonic's inability to stop him and he tugged harder all the more. Sonic couldn't take it. Everything that was happening at the moment brought back memories of last night's events; Shadow getting on top of Sonic, laughing darkly, and touching him in places he shouldn't have touched.

"No, Shadow! Stop!" Sonic ordered, but he started to feel that his pleas were of no use in this situation. He became even more freaked out when Shadow had finally undone the button on Sonic's pants.

"SHADOW!" Sonic yelled louder, hoping to heaven that someone would hear him. This further amused the black hedgehog in control.

"What's wrong, Sonic? Where's your little tough guy attitude, now? Hmm?" Shadow was now roughly pulling down the zipper to the pants.

"N-no . . . Shadow! Shadow, please! Get off!" Sonic bucked and writhed profusely to get Shadow off of him and escape any way he could. It was no use. It seemed that Sonic was out of luck.

Until . . .

"Boys?"

Both Sonic and Shadow snapped the half-open bedroom door.

"Boys? Sonic and Shadow? Are you there?" As the voice got closer and closer, the hedgehogs both recognized it as the voice of Bernadette. Shadow jumped off of Sonic in the knick of time before the door opened up to reveal Sonic's mother.

"Are you two ready for school, yet? You're going to b— . . . Sonic, why are you on the floor?" Bernadette asked, puzzled. Sonic froze and quickly tried to think of a reason. It was then that he realized that his feet might be a little quicker than his brain. But, Shadow jumped in before Sonic could speak.

"He fell off of his bed and onto the floor, Bernadette. I apologize for his clumsiness." He said and quickly grinned in a sly manner at Sonic's direction. Sonic glared hatefully back at Shadow. Bernadette managed to catch Sonic's glance toward Shadow, but she somehow missed the sneaky look of the latter. Deciding not to press into the matter any further, she continued to speak. "Well . . . okay, you two. But, let's prepare to leave. You don't want to be late for your first day, Shadow." Bernadette told him before looking in Sonic's direction. "And _you_, Mister. You don't want to be late,_ again_. Hurry hurry, boys." And with that, she left the room.

When it was assured that she was out of earshot, Shadow glared at Sonic and stated, "You're lucky I didn't take anything further than what I did, moron." Sonic mumbled under his breath, "Stupid emo-bastard", and he began to push himself off of the ground. But, Shadow heard him, and when Sonic was almost off of the floor, Shadow shoved him right back down just as hard as before Bernadette entered. Then, he threw on his black and red jacket, picked up his book bag, and headed for the door.

"ARRRGH!" Sonic yelled in rage. "Why are you such a— . . ."

Shadow turned his head coolly to give Sonic the coldest glare that he had probably ever received. Sonic simply shut his mouth and took this look as a warning. Shadow stared Sonic in the eye as if making sure that Sonic understood to keep his mouth closed. Sonic seemed to pick up on the signal Shadow was sending him. He didn't want a repeat of a mere few minutes ago, nor did he want a repeat of last night. When Shadow figured that Sonic understood, he turned back around and walked out of the bedroom and front door. Sonic picked himself up and his book bag, and swore in his head without opening his mouth. He didn't know how well Shadow's hearing was, but he didn't feel like testing it out at the moment. The azure hedgie followed a little ways behind Shadow and he was soon out of the front door, also.

**~.~.~**

When he got outside, he looked up and saw Shadow standing in one spot and staring at the ground, waiting for Sonic. When Shadow heard the front door close again, he looked up and saw Sonic walking down the front steps. Sonic pretended not to see Shadow and walked right past him. Shadow glared at the back of Sonic's head, but followed him. Sonic made an effort to avoid eye contact with Shadow and vowed to do so on the entire walk to the school.

'_The school's only five minutes away.'_ Sonic thought to himself. _'I can be quiet for that long . . . I think.'_ The hedgehog obviously wasn't known for being a quiet one.

As the two hedgehogs walked to school, the chilly breezes of autumn hung in the air. The once beautiful, luscious, green leaves of the trees turned into that of vivid and bright orange, yellow, and red hues. The crunching of the Sonic and Shadow stomping on the leaves made them clearly aware that summer was over, and fall was here to stay for the moment. Every few seconds, a cool soft breeze would blow in the faces of the creatures, and then it would stop making a continuous repeat throughout their walk. It was a nice, quiet scenery and a total contrast of the area that was about two minutes up ahead. Up ahead, the area consisted of loud noises of honking cars and city people rushing to get to work, school, and other important places. But for now, the hedgehogs were still walking in a place of total silence.

Shadow the hedgehog wasn't one to care for noise. In fact, he liked being in mostly peaceful places where he wouldn't be forced to hear the harassing hustle and bustle of people he couldn't stand. But, the fact that he noticed that Sonic was intentionally staying quiet, ignoring _him_, and trying to stay a certain distance away from him, bothered him. He didn't know why, but it did. And Shadow was slightly determined to get Sonic to talk to him. No matter what.

"Why are you trying to stay away from me?" Sonic heard Shadow ask from behind him. "And why are you not speaking to me?"

Sonic was aware that Shadow was talking to him, but he tried to hold strong to the promise that he made himself, earlier on. Shadow also knew that Sonic heard him, and he became slightly irritated that Sonic was giving him the silent treatment. Honestly, Shadow and Sonic just met, and Shadow couldn''t, for the life of him, understand why he could never seem to be on good terms with people he would just meet. But, he decided to press further and get Sonic to open his mouth. So he decided to annoy Sonic by asking more questions.

"Are you going to ignore me for the rest of the way to school? And where is this school, exactly? Are there a lot of people there or is the school small? Why is this area so quiet when the city is five minutes away? Are you really blue, or is there some kind of body-dyeing soap? And how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop? And why does . . ."

"**SHUT! UP!"** Sonic stopped, turned around and yelled. It was clear that he had enough. And it was a miracle that he wasn't heard in China because that's about how loud he shouted.

"I was merely asking questions, you overheated loser."

"And I was _**ignoring**_ you!"

"Which, obviously, led me to ask you more questions. See how that works, Nicky?" Shadow asked, rhetorically, with the same smirk on his face as usual.

Sonic and Shadow stood face to face, eye to eye. The shorter, blue hedgehog glared at brother with an intensity that seemed as if it could burn greater than fire itself. But, the hateful expression wasn't mirrored. In fact, staring the blue hedgehog in the face was the taller, onyx hedgehog who showed how amused he was by simply half-smiling directly in the other's face. But, Sonic wasn't the least bit amused. He was just about ready to make himself an only child, again.

"I'm staying away from you because I just met you yesterday, and you're already tearing my life apart! What the hell do you want from me?" Sonic asked, exasperatedly.

Shadow, now in a stoic mood, just kept a gaze on Sonic and plainly answered, "Hn." Shadow started out, "Do I _have_ to want something from you in order to ruin your life?" Shadow asked while closing the small amount of distance between his little brother and himself so that there was almost barely any space between them.

Sonic stood and stared at Shadow in disbelief. Shadow had no ulterior motives for being so troublesome?"

"If you've noticed in the past 24 hours, _Nicky_, I'm really not the type of guy who gives a damn about how people feel." Shadow said as he got closer and closer. "If I want to do something to annoy you, I'm going to do it without thinking twice and without regrets. And I actually find annoying you entertaining because of the infantile way in which you respond."

"I'm NOT a baby, you emo—"

"And just to warn you, if you call me an emo-something one more time, I swear I'll do something you really won't like." Shadow threatened.

"Just because you threaten to hurt me, doesn't mean I'll be too scared to—"

"Oh. I didn't say I would hurt you. I said I would do something you really won't enjoy . . . but that doesn't mean that _I_ . . ." Shadow seductively looked Sonic up and down until his eyes landed on a particular area. " . . . won't enjoy it." Sonic's blushed hard when he discovered where Shadow's eyes had landed and realized what Shadow was implying. Why would his mother pick out a man with such a perverted son? And with a perverted son who would seem attracted to his own little brother?

The whole thing was too graphic for Sonic to want to process at the moment. Sonic whipped backed around and continued on his way to school. He was now determined to keep an even farther distance between Shadow and himself, and he hoped that Shadow could and would leave him alone until they both got to school. All Sonic could think of on the way to school was how miserable he thought his life would be with a new brother in the picture.

On the other hand, all Shadow could think of was the fact that Sonic was trying to avoid him, and he didn't like it. Shadow wasn't the loud, outgoing person that he heard Sonic was, but he didn't like to be unnoticed or ignored. Almost everytime and everywhere Shadow walked into a room, his looks alone demanded attention from all males and females. So, Shadow had to admit that Sonic's vow of silence was pushing him a little over the edge. But, he managed to stay at a calm level of sanity.

'_It doesn't matter. Soon enough, I'll have him in a position so uncomfortable, he'll never be able to ignore me again!'_ Shadow thought and smiled to himself. And strong-minded as he was on that subject, he continued to follow his little brother to their destination: Emerald Hill High.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT OWN SONIC OR ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS IN ANY WAY.

**Author's Note: **Hey, readers and reviewers. . . soo. Remember when (during Christmas break), I said that I would have another chapter up _during_ Christmas break? . . . Yea. He-he, sorry about that. My schedule's been more hectic than I thought it would be, believe me. I didn't know I would be half as crammed as I was. But I'm on spring break, now, so I had time to put up another chapter of the story. And thank you all sooooooooo much for continuing to review even though I haven't been able to respond quickly enough. Honestly, your reviews and adding me as one of your favorite authors on here means a lot to me, especially as a new author on this site. So.

Here's another chapter of my story. And I'll hopefully have another one up in much less of a longer time than the last agonizing wait. XD

**R&R&ENJOY! 3 **

_The Stepbrother_

Emerald Hill High: a place where it was supposed that many teenage anthropomorphic animals came to learn, to fully educate themselves, and to better themselves as beings who would, later on , be better respected in the world.

. . . not.

The high school wasn't a disastrous place to be, as there were far worse around, but it was not the ideal foundation for geniuses seeking to obtain intelligence. The students acted like ordinary, insubordinate students; some females attended the school almost half dressed, some males made it a daily routine to get in physical contact with the females in a less than civilized manner, some of the popular students sought to pick on the ones that were much less popular, some students saw a need to set cruel pranks on friends, students, and even teachers, other students didn't feel it was a problem with initiating heated, public displays of affection in the _middle_ of the halls, and almost the entire student body didn't mind using vulgar language every once in a while to express themselves.

But, hey, aren't all high schools this way?

Obviously, Sonic the hedgehog was a student of this school. He didn't seem to mind attending the school that much, mainly because he was a go-with-the-flow type of guy. He was also considered one of the popular kids, someone a lot of the student body looked up to. He was admired and appreciated by the guys, adored by the girls _and _some boys, and he was a friend of nearly the entire school. He and his group of friends were some of the envy of the students at Emerald Hill High. And despite the problems that he would sometimes go through at that school, when he thought it over, he would realize that he wouldn't change schools for anything.

As the mentioned blue hedgehog neared the sidewalk to the entrance of his destination, he glanced down at his watch.

**6:59**, it read.

Sonic liked to be at the school at seven, because his first class started at seven fifteen. This gave him time to grab the necessary items out of his locker, socialize with his friends a bit, and shake off any problems that he may have worried about the night before.

***THUNK***

"Oww!" Sonic exclaimed at a medium voice level and held the back of his head in light pain.

He had forgotten all about the problem **behind** him.

Sonic stopped walking, turned around, and looked on the ground to see a small, but painful rock lying on the ground, and came to a conclusion that _this _rock is what made contact, or was _thrown_, at his head. Still turned around, he looked up from the ground with disdain at the source of his mild agony. Smirking at him, with all intends and purposes of making the blue hedgie mad, was Shadow, still walking behind Sonic. Sonic glared at Shadow for a few seconds and continued the walk to the front door.

'_Don't let him annoy you, Sonic. Don't let him annoy you. Don't let him anno—' _***THUNK!***

Sonic winced. Yet again, another rock was thrown at his head. Sonic's face grew into a bigger scowl than the last, but he continued to walk, deciding to not even give Shadow the satisfaction of acknowledging his childish antics.

'_Don't even pay him any attention. He's just trying to get to you. Just a few more steps to the front door, Sonic. A few more—'_ ***THUNK!*THUNK!*** Sonic growled quietly to himself.

How many stupid rocks was Shadow planning on throwing at him before they reached the inside of the building, Sonic wondered. And was the little jerk going to continue practicing his rock-throwing skills inside the building as well?

Sonic could hear Shadow chuckling to himself quietly, and he was getting a little tired of the silly charade of Shadow's. He decided that the next time Shadow threw another rock, he was gonna— ***THUNK!***

"**LOOK**, you bastard!" Sonic jumped in Shadow's face and spat. "I'm _sick_ of you throwing shit at me, and I want it to stop!" Sonic glared darkly at Shadow. He was well aware that Shadow was about half a head taller than he was, but he didn't care at the moment.

Shadow stared Sonic straight in his eyes for about ten seconds and smirked mysteriously. Sonic cocked an eyebrow up in question to what Shadow's smirking meant. Soon enough, Shadow reached down on the ground for another small rock, stood back up at his full height, raised his hand with the rock in it over Sonic's head . . . and he dropped it. ***THUNK!* **

Sonic was livid. He was sick of his 'brother' treating him this way. It hadn't been a full week since they met and Shadow was already giving him the hell he never thought he'd experience. Sonic closed his eyes and counted to ten, hoping to high heaven that this method would calm him down and keep him from doing anything brash.

' _. . . 8 . . . 9 . . . 10! . . . Nope.'_

Nope. He wasn't calmed.

***WHAM!***

"OOF!"

Sonic landed a heavy blow right on the left side of Shadow's face. Sonic shook his hand because of the sting of the hard connection with his knuckles and Shadow's face. He looked down at Shadow on the ground, put a satisfied grin on his face, let out a breath of air, and turned around and walked inside of the school, leaving Shadow on the ground outside.

Shadow glared at Sonic dangerously until Sonic got in the school.

"You are definitely going to pay for that, you little shit." Shadow said to himself, brushed himself off, and gathered his things. Then, he proceeded angrily to walk into the school building, plotting his revenge on his 'dead' little brother.

**~.~.~.~**

Inside the school at last, Sonic walked the hall to his locker. It was impossible for him to make it to his locker without a greeting from the majority of the students roaming the hallways.

"Whats up, Sonic!"

"How'ya doin', buddy?"

"Omigosh! Its Sonic!"

"Will you marry me? Pleeease?"

Sonic gave likewise greetings to everyone . . . except the latter. He glanced at the female awkwardly and shook his head while continuing on his way to the locker. Sonic could now see his locker in sight. It wasn't hard to miss what with a few pictures of him here and there on the front. Sonic made it to the front of his locker and opened it up, revealing a storage full of displaced books, disheveled papers, and other items out of place everywhere. The lockers weren't very big, so one could imagine the little amount of space Sonic had to stash all of his 'crap', to say the least. But, he didn't seem to mind the messiness of his locker, obviously seen by the way he would keep his room. He threw his books on top of another pile of books and papers, stood back with his hands on his hips, and grinned as if he had accomplished a job well done. He harbored no shame in his shoddiness. Right when Sonic closed his locker door . . .

"Hey there, blue."

"Ah!" Sonic jumped at the sudden smooth voice that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Looking to his right, he glanced at a green hedgehog leaning suavely against a locker right next to Sonic's. The green hedgehog clearly gave off the aura of a rebellious troublemaker. He was a little taller than Sonic, he had dark, evergreen eyes, a scar across his chest from an unfortunate event of his, and he sported a black motorcycle jacket with flames on the sleeves, green and black sneakers, and red sunglasses on his head. Sonic always wondered why the hedgehog wore sunglasses _indoors_, but he was never interested in questioning the act. The green hedgehog was known to the school as Scourge the hedgehog, and the reason he gave off a troublemaker's aura was because he was one. He always paraded around the school as if he were the king of the nation. He was very cocky and conceited, he _always _sought to be the center of attention, he held little respect for anyone, and he had to be number one in **everything**.

Sonic let out an annoyed sigh.

"What do you want?" Sonic questioned nonchalantly.

Scourge smirked and shook his head. "Tsk. Tsk. So hostile. As usual."

"I've got to get to class." Sonic brushed past Scourge and tried to walk away, until Scourge grab his arm and pull his firmly, but gently back against his locker.

"Hold on, blue. There's no rush." He explained. "And besides, I barely got to say two words to you without you walking away from me."

"You've said three."

" . . . have I? . . . oh, I didn't even notice." Scourge chuckled.

Sonic stared blankly at the green hedgehog, wondering how Scourge made it to the tenth grade with the rest of his class. And then he attempted to walk away, again. But, the same arm caught him again with the same tight grip. Again.

"Wait a minute, sexy." Scourge exclaimed. "Why do you keep trying to leave? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to get away from me." Scourge teased with a mock pouting face. "Do you not like my company or somethin' ?"

"Scourge, I—"

"Yes?" Scourge replied and advanced closer to Sonic, and Sonic backed up, nervously. This game of advance and avoid continued until Sonic's back was against the locker. Scourge was now hovering over Sonic with both arms against the lockers on each side of Sonic, successfully trapping him in.

'_Damn! How do I keep ending up trapped like this?'_ Sonic looked down and thought. _'And by this idiot nonetheless.'_

Sonic hated Scourge's persistence in these situations. He also noticed that ever since Scourge had made it known to the citizens of the school that he didn't mind 'going both ways', he became a little bolder in pursuing Sonic in a more romantic manner. Sonic remembered that before that event had occurred, he would every so often catch Scourge staring at him here and there, but it never dawned on him fully to think anything of it. Now, he really wished he was a little more wise to the subject; he might've cut it off earlier on, and then, just maybe, he wouldn't find himself in predicaments, such as this one.

'_I really need to stop being so nice to people.'_ He thought.

Bringing Sonic back to reality was one of Scourge's hands moving from on the locker near Sonic's head to his waist and another grabbing his chin. Sonic's cheeks instantly became hot and bright red. He did his best to try and glare at Scourge to appear less vulnerable than he knew he must have looked. But, Sonic could tell it wasn't working.

Scourge chuckled to himself. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed, ya' know that?" Scourge teased. "And your facial expressions . . . everything about you just makes me wanna eat you up." He said to Sonic. His eyes, then, traveled to a personal area of the blue hedgehog's. "And I **really** mean 'eat you up'." He looked back up again, meeting Sonic's eyes with a lustful stare of his own.

Sonic's whole body became hot after this crude comment. "Look, Scourge. I-I've already t-told you a million times. I-I'm not like that. I-I'm not interested in you that way, o-okay?" He tried to sound strong and convincing, because even though he really wasn't interested, his current voice would never prove Scourge right.

Scourge reached down to whisper in Sonic's ear. "I don't believe you, baby." And he lowered his head to softly kiss and lick at Sonic's neck.

"Sc-Scourge! Stop it!" Sonic pushed against Scourge's chest with his strong, toned arms. Unfortunately for him, Scourge's were a little more strong and a little more toned. This struggle caused a deep chuckle to rise from Scourge's throat. "Mmm. You're so hot when you act like you don't want this." Said Scourge.

"Scourge, I said get off! I-I—"

***CRACK!***

"Aughh!" Scourge exclaimed. Out of nowhere came a pain in his arm so severe, he jumped away from Sonic as if the blue hedgehog was on fire. He looked to his left to inspect what could cause him such pain. Standing right in front of him were Sonic's friends; Tails, Silver, Amy, Rouge, and Knuckles, who obviously had hit Scourge and caused the excruciating pain in his arm.

" . . . and there's more where that came from if we ever catch you touching Sonic again. Got that punk?" Knuckles threatened.

Scourge, not one to be threatened easily at all, glared and bared his teeth at them. "You'll be sorry you did that, you moron!" And then he looked at Sonic and said, "I'll get you how I want you, one way or another. And I always get what I want. Remember that, babe." And with that, he walked off in the direction of the nurse's office, with Sonic and his friends watching his departure from them.

"And you'd **better **stay away from my boyfriend if you know what's good for you!" Amy shouted after Scourge as she linked her arm with Sonic's. Scourge looked back angrily and continued walking into the distance. Amy, then, turned to Sonic, gave him a sweet smile, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Heh . . . umm . . . thanks, Amy." Sonic chuckled quietly and nervously. And then, he slowly unlinked his arm from Amy's, and he moved aside quickly to separate himself from the love-struck girl.

"Geez, Sonic. Haven't you had enough?" Tails asked. "I mean, this is, what, the hundredth time he's done this to you during the school year, _not_ including the summer?" He cocked his head to the side, questioningly. Tails was a young kit, but because of his high intellect, it was requested by his previous school that he moved up a few grades, which placed him in Sonic's grade: a sophomore. And Sonic and his friends didn't mind, either. All of them saw Tails as their little brother, so they were just careful as to what they said around him if they found it to be rated a little above his age.

"Yeah, Sonic." Knuckles chimed in. "Why don't you give that wuss what's been coming to him since day damn one?"

" . . . I dunno." Sonic replied, shyly.

"I know why." Silver responded in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. "It's 'cause Sonic's a wimp."

"I'm a what?" Sonic glared at him, annoyed.

"Every time you get into problems of a romantic or sexual manner with him, you freeze. You've never had the balls to back him off, and you probably never will." Silver explained, pretending to be so interested in his nails all of a sudden. Silver was a silver-white hedgehog with golden eyes and white, black, and blue shoes. He was born with a rare ability of telekinesis, allowing him to move things within weight range with his mind. He was also a good friend of Sonic's, but just as Knuckles was, he was one of those sarcastic types. He was never afraid or ashamed to express how he felt or what he was thinking, and if he had something to tell, he would tell it. Sometime this would be a benefit to the gang, but mostly, it just served as annoyance.

_This _was one of those annoying times.

"You know what, you bastard?" Sonic growled and advanced toward Silver. But, Knuckles held him back to prevent Silver any harm.

"Calm down, blue." Knuckles chuckled. "You know he's just running his trap like he usually does."

"Sonic, you know we're all just really worried about you and that Scourge situation." Amy joined in, cheerily. "We just wished you'd end it, that's all. But, Knuckles is right. There's no need to attack anyone over this. And if there's anyone you should attack, it should be that slimeball, Scourge."

"Well, that's a first." Rouge spoke after Amy.

"What's a first, Rouge?" Amy asked, curiously.

Rouge crossed her arms over her chest. "You just said Knuckles was right. That should be recorded in history books everywhere." She answered with a sly grin on her face.

Knuckles turned to her and glared. "Don't **test** me, batgirl."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Knucklehead." Said Rouge and she stared at Knuckles. He glared back at her, and the two had a little stare showdown with each other.

Rouge was a white bat with blue eyes, a pink heart shaped top, black skintight pants, and white boots, a sarcastic wit, and a fetish for jewelry and shiny apparel. She was the type of female that had a good head on her shoulders and could attract the attention of every boy for miles with her physical appearance and shape. She also held a little crush on Knuckles that was known to everyone but the clueless, red echidna himself. Rouge had decided that until she felt the time was right, her crush would remain unknown the the echidna, and she felt no sudden rush to let him know.

Amy the hedgehog, on the other hand, didn't hide her major crush for her blue friend, Sonic. Her obsession for him was calmed a little when she grew in age, but it did not disappear. She, too, was often very bold with Sonic and for Sonic, her boldness, at times, bordered on the line between uncomfortable and annoying. But, Sonic learned to ignore it . . . most of the time. Amy had green eyes, as Sonic did, pink hair, and she wore a red dress hanging right at her knees, and red and white striped boots. She also carried around a big piko piko hammer, constantly, but it was usually concealed in her little backpack. How she got the hammer inside the little pouch, no one knew, and no one questioned it. They just knew to keep Amy in optimistic moods, because when she was mad, she had a big temper, the hammer would come out, and she would just start swinging and not care where the hammer landed.

Sonic, suddenly, got between Rouge and Knuckles. "Hey, hey, hey!" he said. "Don't get upset because of something stupid that happened with me. It's my problem, and I'll deal with it . . . when the time comes."

"You'd better." Silver said. "This game of cat-and-mouse is getting on my damn nerves. I'm really tired of—"

"Uh, heh heh . . . I think that'll do it, Silver." Tails cut him off, nervously, not wanting another problem to commence. "And besides, shouldn't we be getting to class? He asked.

Sonic looked down at his watch.

**7:13**

"Oh! You're right, Tails. Let's go, guys." Sonic said, and they all started toward their class. Amy caught up to walk beside Sonic and, one again, linked arms with him. Sonic just glanced at her and rolled his eyes, not having the strength to get her off as he did before. The friends had a couple of the same classes together, but most of the time, they were split up. It was nice to have a close friend in every class for them, but because they were considered some of the most popular kids in the school, it wasn't awkward for them to not be together in every class.

**~.~.~.~**

As soon as they walked into the class, the bell rang, and they searched for their assigned seats. They sat near each other even if they weren't right beside each other. This gave them the advantage to whisper quietly to each other or pass each other notes if need be.

"Okay, guys. Find your seats, please." The teacher, Mr. Sparklight, ordered coolly. He was a young, handsome teacher with a laidback appearance and attitude. He was considered one of the coolest teachers of the school, and all of the students took a liking to him. He also insisted that the students called him Sparks, because he didn't care too much for the last name 'Sparklight'.

The students all moved to their seats, the seats that they previously picked with the understanding that the seating arrangement would be permanent for the remainder of the year. There were other empty seats, but because everyone was content with the seat they were sitting in, there were no complaints. Sonic and his friends sat near the back row, not all the way in the back, but in the area of a couple of rows before.

"So, Sonic," Tails leaned across and talked to Sonic beside him. "What ever happened to your stepbrother?"

"Uh . . . he, umm . . . well, I don't know where he is." Sonic replied.

"Wasn't he supposed to come to school, today?" Tails asked again.

"Wasn't _who _supposed to come to school today?" Silver asked curiously.

"Sonic's stepbrother." Tails answered.

"You have a stepbrother, Sonic?" Amy asked aloud.

"Shhh!" Sonic urged her and glared. " . . . yes. I have a stepbrother, now." This immediately got Amy and Rouge excited, and led them to bombard Sonic with a million questions .

"Is he our age?" Amy asked.

"Is he a hedgehog, just like you?" Rouge followed.

"Is he as sweet as you?"

"Does he have his own house and car?"

"Is he as _cute_ as you are?"

"Tell us something, Sonic!"

"Yea!"

"**ENOUGH!**" Silver roared. The whole classroom stared at Silver in slight fright, except for Sparks, who just raised a curious eyebrow at Silver and his behavior. Then, everyone resumed what they were doing. "Give him a chance to speak and stop acting like a bunch of desperate women! Sheesh!"

"What if they are?" Knuckles asked sarcastically, and he and Silver laughed lightly at this. Rouge and Amy just glowered at them, both.

"So, where _is_ the kid, Sonic?" Knuckles added.

"I dunno. He was following me this morning to school, and then . . . " Sonic was recalling what had happened earlier before school.

*****_**Flashback**_*****

"_**LOOK**__, you bastard!" Sonic jumped in Shadow's face and spat. "I'm sick of you throwing shit at me, and I want it to stop!" Sonic glared darkly at Shadow. _

_Shadow stared Sonic straight in his eyes for about ten seconds and smirked mysteriously. Sonic cocked an eyebrow up in question to what Shadow's smirking meant. Soon enough, Shadow reached down on the ground for another small rock, stood back up at his full height, raised his hand with the rock in it over Sonic's head . . . and he dropped it. __***THUNK!* **_

_Sonic closed his eyes and counted to ten, hoping to high heaven that this method would calm him down and keep him from doing anything brash. _

' _. . . 8 . . . 9 . . . 10! . . . Nope.'_

_***WHAM!***_

"_OOF!"_

_Sonic landed a heavy blow right on the left side of Shadow's face. Sonic shook his hand because of the sting of the hard connection with his knuckles and Shadow's face. He looked down at Shadow on the ground, put a satisfied grin on his face, let out a breath of air, and turned around and walked inside of the school, leaving Shadow on the ground outside._

*****_**End of Flashback**_*****

" . . . and then, I dunno what happened after that. The freak must've gotten lost. Ha-ha! But, what should I care?" He said, pulling out the notebook for the class they were in; Geometry class.

"Sonic, what if he really _did _get lost. Wouldn't you feel bad about that?" Rouge asked.

"Wouldn't your parents, like, kick you out of the house or disown or . . . something?" Silver asked.

"Who cares? He's not my brother, anyway! I don't have one." Sonic answered stubbornly. "If I'm lucky, I won't have to see him ever again."

"Attention, class!" Sparks called. "We have a new student here who needs to introduce himself. And I want you to show him all of the kindness and respect that's due. C'mon in!" Sparks, grinning, gestured for the unknown student to walk inside the room.

The student walked into the room and stood beside Sparks, but, Sonic was looking down at his cell phone, secretly.

"Hey, Sonic?" Tails asked.

"What is it, bud?" Sonic replied.

"Isn't that—"

"Introduce yourself, please. Don't be shy! We're all friends here." Sparks suggested. "What's your name?" Sonic finally looked up and his eyes were immediately glued to the ruby eyes staring back at him with a menacing look and a sinister smirk on the student's face.

"My name's Shadow. Shadow the hedgehog." The student replied, still staring at Sonic with a threatening smirk.

'_Why am I so damn unlucky?'_ And Sonic sank down into his chair, wondering what kind of trouble was awaiting him that day.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT OWN SONIC OR ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS IN ANY WAY.

**Author's Note: **I hope this chapter doesn't bore you, cause I kinda have some writer's block for this story, right now. But, I'm not gonna discontinue it. I'm just gonna write more chapters whenever I get ideas about how it should go. But, anyway, I hope you like the chapter!

**R&R! :)**

* * *

_The Stepbrother_

* * *

Sonic wanted to get away. He couldn't think of anywhere he would go at the moment. He just knew he wanted to get _away_. Away from the school, away from the classroom,

. . . and away from Shadow.

Tails looked over at the uncomfortable-looking azure hedgehog. "Hey, Sonic . . . are you alright? You look a little . . . _scared_ or something." This caught the attention of Knuckles, Amy, Silver, and Rouge. They had never known for Sonic to be 'afraid' of _anything_. Sonic gave the demeanor of a fearless, impenetrable brick wall; nothing could scare him or cause him to back down from anything. So, the words 'Sonic' and 'scared', used in the same sentence by Tails, were puzzling to Sonic's friends. But Sonic didn't want his friends to know he was a little on edge, especially not because of his own stepbrother.

"Uh, hehe . . . I'm fine, buddy." He answered with a not-so-convincing grin.

"Ya' sure, Sonic? Cause you're not really acting yourself." Knuckles said.

"Don't worry about him, you guys. He's probably just a little shy because he's sitting so close to _me_." Amy assured, primping her hair. "I _do_ tend to have that effect on my hubby." All of the friends rolled their eyes at the comment. Sonic, however, didn't hear Amy's proclamation; his attention was redirected to the dark hedgehog at the front of the classroom.

"Soo, Shadow," Sparks started. "Can you tell the class a little about yourself?"

The aforementioned, black hedgehog hadn't allowed his angry eyes to falter from Sonic since he entered the room and laid eyes on his blue brother. How could he let some punk hedgehog sneak attack him in his face? And someone like Sonic, at that. After all, Sonic was nothing but a puny, weak, hopeless excuse for a little brother, right? He wasn't capable of being anything else but an easy target, right? . . . _Right_?

'_How did that little rat __**hit**__ me so fast?'_ Shadow also wondered. He didn't even remember seeing a fist moving toward his face. All he knew was that at one moment, he was smirking at his 'brother' and enjoying his taunting actions toward the azure one; the next thing he knew, he felt a fist make full contact with his face, hard enough to send him flying backward and onto solid concrete. All he saw when he looked up, embarrassed, was Sonic retreating, rather quickly, into the school building.

Was Sonic really _that_ fast?

Shadow wrestled with these thoughts, but soon came to a conclusion that he didn't care. The only thing he could do was get even angrier at his recollection of past unfortunate events, and send a nasty glare toward his target-slash-stepbrother. He could feel Sonic's discomfort under his glare. He wanted Sonic to feel discomfort. He wanted Sonic to be afraid and aware that, at any time at all, Shadow could and _would_ get his revenge, and Sonic would receive tenfold of a punishment than Shadow had that day. He smirked at his evil thoughts; he was so engulfed in concocting a plan to pulverize Sonic in his head, he almost didn't hear Sparks calling him for the third time.

" . . . SHADOW."

The mentioned calmly looked over to the source of the voice and said, "What?"

Sparks raised an eyebrow. "I said, 'Could you tell us something about yourself'?" Shadow looked at Sparks for a few more seconds before turning to the class.

"I'm Shadow. I'm 17, I'm a hedgehog, and this is the school of which I now attend." He stated to the class. "That's it."

The class all looked at each other. "Your brother's not much of a talker, eh blue?" Knuckles implied.

"**Step**-brother," Sonic corrected. "And who cares. The less he talks, the better." Sonic crossed his arms and pouted. Knuckles just shrugged at this comment.

Sparks sweat dropped. "Uhh . . . oo-kay. Eh . . . is there . . . anything _else_ you'd like to say, Shadow?"

"Nothing I'd really care to share with any of you, no." Shadow responded coolly.

Sparks stood there at a loss of what to say. "Uhmm . . . well, alright then. Class, have you any questions for Shadow?"

"Are your gorgeous eyes naturally that color?" Rouge asked.

Shadow glanced nonchalantly at the girl and raised his eyebrow, wondering what possessed her to ask such a silly question. "Yes. They are."

Rouge purred in approval and pretended to claw at Shadow with one of her hands. Shadow just rolled his eyes.

"My house address is 69 Chao Lane." Said a golden cat named Sandy. "Do _you_ happen to live anywhere near that address?" She asked, hopefully.

Shadow glared slightly at her. "No. Actually, I don't. I really think it's none of your business where—"

"Have you always had that strong, fit look?"

"Do you have a lot of money?"

"Can I have your number? I'll give you mine!"

"Will you go on a date with me?"

Shadow was getting more and more annoyed with each passing question. _'Ugh. It's the same everywhere. Will they just __**shut up**__?' _Shadow thought. He couldn't be any more exasperated. Shadow wasn't always attacked by the female gender _everywhere_ he went, but he was use to this kind of female attention at his old boarding school. He had an inkling of hope that when he moved and attended a public school, things would change.

All hope, for him, was now lost.

Shadow was rubbing his temples in an irritated manner. He could see that he wasn't going to get any help from Sparks, 'the teacher and peace keeper of his classroom'. He glared up hatefully at the class, looking around the room at the love-stricken females, until his eyes happened to glance over at Sonic at the back. The azure hedgehog, currently not showing any sign of worry or apprehension, was leaning back in his desk chair with hands behind his head and a sly smirk that could almost rival Shadow's. Sonic was enjoying every bit of Shadow's being miserable; the evidence was plain on his face. Shadow glared even darker at Sonic, and opened his mouth to demand silence and an end to all questions. But, the last question caught his attention.

"Do you have any brothers?"

Shadow's glare softened. He glanced over at a mongoose named Mina, the owner of the recently asked questions. An idea popped into Shadow's head and it was his turn to smirk. He leaned back with his elbows on Sparks' desk and proceeded to answer Mina's question.

"I just moved in with my dad, step-mom, and . . . _step-brother_." Shadow looked over at Sonic; his little brother's expression changed very quickly from one of amusement to one of confusion. "Sonic Hedgehog, actually, happens to be my new stepbrother. Isn't that right, Nicky?" He smirked over at Sonic, again. Sonic's confused surprise turned into a glare, while all of the girls cooed and talked amongst themselves saying, "Aww. He even has a nickname for him. That's so adorable!" Sonic snapped his head over at the girls and glared back even harder at Shadow, who continued on.

"In fact . . . we were talking earlier about how _I_ was going to follow him around for the day. Ya'know, just to get a feel for this school and all." He rambled, causing Sparks to silently question to himself why Shadow suddenly became so talkative. Sonic sat agape and in disbelief at Shadow's lies. _'Follow me around? I don't want that bastard anywhere near me!'_ Sonic thought. He wondered how long he would have to endure this insanity. Out of nervousness, he picked up one of his pens from his desk and began chewing on it.

"We planned on walking to school together, eating lunch together, and even sitting together in first period."

"Aww," Amy whispered. "That is _so_ sweet of you to show so much courtesy to your stepbrother, Sonic."

Sonic slowly turned to glower at Amy.

"But . . ." Shadow feigned disappointment. ". . . sadly, it looks like the only available seat is . . . over there." Shadow directed his finger to another chair sitting in the front-most row by the window. Sparks, Sonic, and the entire class followed Shadow's finger to the spot he was pointing to. Shadow sighed dramatically and sneaked a peek at Sonic, who was staring back at him angrily. He couldn't believe the position Shadow was trying to put him in. Did he really take 'a hit to the face' _that _seriously?

"Well, Shadow, I guess if someone in this room is _willing _to shift into another seat, you can sit near—"

Before Sparks could finish, a random student popped up out of his desk and walked over to the other vacant seat in the room. Sonic watched miserably as the student moved, silently trying to bribe him into staying where he was, but to no avail.

"Oh, there you go, Shadow. A seat just opened up for you, right next to Sonic." Shadow smirked as Sonic stared wide-eyed, unconsciously snapping his pen in two.

"Umm . . . Sonic?" Tails asked. "Are you sure that you're . . . you know . . . all there?" Tails questioned and motioned toward his head, indicating that Sonic was having some sort of mental problem.

Sonic closed his mouth and turned to Tails, irritated. "You know, I'm getting sick of your stupid wit and sarcasm!" Sonic whispered loudly to Tails. "Just because you hang around me _all the time_, doesn't mean you have to act like a—"

Tails shrunk back at this sudden outburst. "I was just trying to help, Sonic. Sheesh!"

"Sonic, calm down." Silver said. "I dunno why you're acting so uptight, but chill. He's just a kid."

Tails turned to Silver and pouted. "I am _not_ just a kid. I am a very intellectual, young individual."

"You're a _kid _in the eleventh grade!" Sonic pointed at Tails and said. "He's a kid in the freakin' eleventh grade, Silver! If he's old enough to be the _eleventh grade_, he's old enough to—"

"Hey, Nicky." A cool deep voice greeted.

Sonic stopped in the middle of his verbal rampage and froze. He was almost too scared to turn around and glance at the owner of a voice he knew too well. But, he chose not to 'punk out' in front of his friends, so he turned anyway and scowled. He came face to face with the source of the misery that started for him a mere day ago. Shadow must have been a light stepper because Sonic was sure he didn't hear him walk to the desk.

"So, you're not talking to me, now, eh?"

"What are you over here for?" Sonic grumbled.

"Isn't it obvious, blue? This _is_ my seat." He responded. "Or were you not paying attention when Sparky assigned it to me?"

"You know what I mean, jackass. Why'd you ask to sit over _here_?"

Shadow stared Sonic in the eyes for a short while before chuckling, quietly. "Little brother—"

"_**STEP**_-brother." Sonic rudely interrupted.

" . . . whatever. You're still my little brother and that's all that matters, isn't it?"

"Just answer the question." Sonic hissed a little loudly. He looked up to make sure no one was listening. The students all seemed to be involved in each of their own affairs. Even Sparks hadn't started class yet. He was busy looking for the lesson plan for the day and the homework he would eventually assign. Sonic drew his attention back to Shadow.

Shadow shook his head teasingly at Sonic. "Tsk. Tsk. Still so hostile."

"**What** . . . are you over here for?" Sonic echoed, running out of patience. Having a lot of patience wasn't his strong suit, either.

Shadow chuckled again, in a darker manner. "Of course you can't _possible_ assume that I've forgotten all about your little charade earlier this morning, baby brother."

Sonic's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

'_Charade? Earlier?'_ He thought.

Shadow's amused expression turned into one of annoyance. " . . . earlier this morning when you _punched_ me?"

Sonic's mouth formed a slight 'o' as realization dawned on him.

"Yeah." Shadow confirmed.

"Well, what does that have to do with now?" Their conversation still continuing, unnoticed.

"Well, as you know, I _have _to ensure that you receive your just reward for your hostility towards me earlier."

Sonic's face slightly lost color. " . . . whaddya mean . . . 'just reward'?" He was almost afraid to ask.

Shadow leaned toward Sonic to make sure no one else could hear what he was about to say. "I _will _make sure you pay for your little antics, Sonic. And trust me, you'll either be miserable or embarrassed. Who knows, you might get lucky and end up both."

Sonic gulped. He had never been afraid of a threat before; why did he feel afraid of one now?

"B-but . . . I didn't even _mean_ to hit you; it was just a reflex, honest." Sonic tried to convince him. "And you're not scarred or bruised or anything. What do you need to get back at me for?"

Shadow smirked. "It's just the principle of the thing."

Sonic felt like his stomach was doing somersaults and back flips. The last thing he wanted was to feel uptight and jumpy having to be on edge and on the lookout for anything Shadow was prepared to do to him. He couldn't decide if he should tell his mother or Jules. If he told Bernadette, she would probably side with Shadow again, and refuse to believe anything Sonic told her. If he told Jules, Jules might relay the message to Bernadette who would just punish Sonic for telling Jules 'such untruths'. He didn't know where to turn at the moment. So, his only option was to hide.

'_I gotta stay away from him.'_ He thought. _'Who knows what kind of crazy crap he might try to do to me!'_

The azure hedgehog decided to keep himself hidden to the best of his abilities, after school. He was afraid of Shadow hurting him, screwing with his social life, or worse . . .

. . . having another _personal_ mishap like the night before.

Although Sonic hated to think about it, he couldn't help but wonder whether or not Shadow's . . . up-close and personal moments with Sonic were just a way of trying to be an irritation, or were the moments a sign that Shadow actually—

"Alright, class. Now that we've gotten the chance to meet Shadow, I'd like for us to all turn to the chapter we've been working on for the past few days in our homework books."

Sonic exhaled heavily. He hated homework almost as much as he hated Shadow. As he reached under his desk to grab his book, he noticed Shadow raise his hand.

"Yes, Shadow?" Sparks answered politely.

"I don't have one of these . . . homework books everyone else has."

"Oh! I'm sorry, Shadow. The new set of books for this class hasn't arrived yet." Sonic looked over at Shadow and stuck his tongue out in a childish manner. "Why don't you share a book with Sonic since you're near each other? Besides, you both live in the same house; you can use the same book for your homework, later, right?"

Sonic's jaw dropped and Shadow turned to Sonic and smirked.

"Whatever you say, teach'." Shadow confirmed.

"Alright, class. Please flip to page—"

Sonic grabbed for his book and laid it on his desk, flipping to the pages the teacher mentioned. Normally, he'd give Sparks a hard time with doing anything related to homework, but today, he just wasn't in the mood. He had more important matters on his mind, one particular matter being more troublesome than homework.

Suddenly, Shadow began to scoot his desk as close as possible to Sonic's. Sonic narrowed his eyes at Shadow, dangerously. Shadow merely smirked, darkly.

"Just don't touch me while you're over here." Blue warned.

"I do what I want, when I want, little brother." Shadow replied. Then, he snaked his hand secretly under the desk toward Sonic and sensually rubbed the blue hedgehog's upper thigh. He got really close to Sonic's ear and whispered, "And not even you can stop that."

Sonic shuddered at Shadow's husky voice and delicate contact. This amused a grinning Shadow even more. "You're blushing." Shadow stated after looking at Sonic's face, which indeed was turning a light shade of red. Upset at Shadow's bluntness, he threw Shadow's hand off of his leg. "Don't touch me!" He yelled.

The whole class, then, stopped what they were doing, including Sparks, and looked at Sonic with puzzled expressions. Tails glanced at Sonic, silently questioning his behavior. Then, he dismissed it as Sonic 'just being Sonic', and went back to paying attention to the teacher. On the other hand, Sonic found it hard to keep his focus on Sparks considering his situation at hand. After looking around to make sure no one was watching, he glared evilly at Shadow. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean, baby brother?" Shadow feigned innocence.

"Don't _ever_ touch me like that, again!"

"Why not?" Shadow challenged with a fake coy grin on his face.

"Because . . ." He paused and glanced around again. " . . . because you're a _guy_!" He retorted. "And you're supposed to be my . . . my . . ."

"Your brother?" Shadow finished.

"You're _not_ my brother." Sonic stated, harshly. He didn't even want to think about the concept of Shadow being related to him in any way.

"Then . . ." Shadow started to whisper as he slid a little closer to Sonic, putting his left arm around him. Sonic tensed up immediately at the unwanted contact. " . . . why don't you want me to touch you like this?" Shadow now wrapped his other arm around Sonic's neck, positioned so that both of his arms rested on the latter's shoulders. Sonic watched as the arms were slung upon him, and then he dared to make eye contact with his 'pursuer'. A familiar pink hue made its way to his face, clearly displaying Sonic's embarrassment of the proximity between Shadow and him. His entire mind went completely blank when Shadow laid his head to rest on Sonic's right shoulder. Sonic felt as if he had no way of escape.

Sonic looked down away from Shadow's eyes and spoke. "C-cause . . . y-you're . . . you're getting too—"

"I'm getting too what, Nicky?" Shadow gently grabbed Sonic's chin, forcing his blue prey to connect eyes with him.

Sonic was speechless. _'Wh-why is he doing this?'_ He thought. Chills shot through his body like lightning at Shadow's touch. He didn't understand what was causing him to feel this way. Of course he couldn't have been having feelings for . . . for

No.

He refused to even think of that possibility.

"I'm getting too . . . personal?" Shadow taunted and chuckled in a sadistic manner. He whispered and stroked his chin, lightly.

"Y-yea, Shadow." Sonic shuddered, again. It was unbelievable to him how bold Shadow was in a classroom full of people. It was even more astounding to Sonic that **no one **seemed to notice Shadow's actions toward him. How was he getting away with this? Were Sparks, the class, and his friends really this naïve?

"You're such a faker, Nicky." The darker hedgehog smirked, wrapping his arms slightly tighter around Sonic to draw him closer. "I know you're just _aching _for me to get close and personal with you. You're merely in a state of denial."

Sonic's breathing sped up quickly, his hearting beating equally as fast. Just how far did Shadow intend to push this little game?

Shadow gently tugged Sonic closer to him until their faces were touching each others. He laughed huskily in Sonic's ear and whispered sexily, "And how exactly am I supposed to learn more about my little brother . . . if I can't get as close to him as possible?" Shadow, then, tugged Sonic almost as close as physically possible and, sensually and slowly, licked Sonic's jaw.

That was it for Sonic.

He couldn't handle any more at that specific moment in time.

His green eyes widened and he felt his whole body become hot, feeling particularly heated in his southern-most regions. He just couldn't take anymore. He couldn't. **No one** was to touch him like that, especially not some freak that sauntered into his house a day ago. It was the last straw.

Sonic's face turned from light pink with embarrassment to bright red with anger and irritation at his 'older stepbrother'.

He'd lost all self-control.

Sonic shoved Shadow as hard as he could away from him, almost knocking him off of the chair. He stood up, pointed a finger at Shadow, and shouted as loud as he possibly could.

"LEAVE ME THE **HELL** ALONE, ALREADY!"

The entire class was wide-eyed at Sonic's sudden outburst. Even Sparks' normally cool demeanor wavered at the random even that had taken place in front of him.

"I told you he's crazy." Tails tried to whisper so that Sonic wouldn't hear. "I swear I saw like three pink bottles of this . . . weird . . . liquor or something in his bathroom cabinet the other day."

"Tails, I told you a million times; it was Pepto Bismol." Knuckles replied covering and shaking his head.

" . . . oh. Oh, yeah."

At the front of the room, Sparks scratched the back of his head uneasily. "Uh, Sonic . . . are you . . . okay?"

Sonic looked around the room, still breathing uneasily, at everyone staring at him. It, then, dawned on him what he had done. And right in the middle of class. He turned to look at the cause of his outburst; of course, he was smirking up at the azure one. Sonic realized he had succeeded in what was probably just _one _of Shadow's plans to get Sonic back from earlier. He frowned deeply and looked toward the front of the class. "I'm fine." He stated.

"You're sure you don't need to go to the nurse . . . for some aspirin or something?" Sparks questioned. "I'd imagine you'd need it after a scream like that." He chuckled to himself.

"Nah." The blue student answered a little calmer than before. "I'm okay, Sparks."

"Okay, well whatever is bothering you, can you please try to keep the volume of your voice under control a little better, next time?"

Sonic nodded in compliance as he sat back down.

"Okay. Now, back to what I was stating a second ago—"

Shadow looked over at the 'mess' to his left with a satisfied grin. He leaned toward Sonic and whispered, "I told you I'd get you back for earlier, eh?"

Sonic glared harshly at Shadow. "So, you justify me punching you in the face by making _me _look like a maniac?" He was clearly not pleased. "I don't even see your point in revenge. As far as I'm concerned, you started it first by throwing your stupid rocks at me; all of this is your fault!" He whispered a little louder than necessary.

"Ask me if I care." Onyx answered plainly.

Sonic flipped Shadow off once more, causing the latter to chuckle deeply to himself.

"Ahh, do what you want while you can, Nicky. With the way I intend to get you back, you may end up without that finger." He smiled.

Sonic retracted his finger from in front of the other's face and asked, "What are you talking about? You just _did_ get me back."

"Well, I hope you think making you look stupid in front of your peers wasn't all that was coming to you."

Sonic stared at him and gulped hard.

"And I just can't _wait _until you find out what's _really_ coming to you, little brother." Shadow taunted, evilly.

****** The school bell went off, signifying it was time for students to move to their next class. Students began to gather their things and retreat from their spots, and Sparks was saying something about 'homework tonight' in the background, but Sonic didn't hear.

Sonic, the quickest of the departing students, gathered his things, left Shadow's side almost as quick as he was able, and sped out of the door. Unknowing to him, Shadow watched him all the way out of the door. He was too eager to get away from his tormentor. The last one to get up, Shadow picked up his bag and thought to himself.

'_You can run from me as fast as you can, baby brother.'_ He thought. _'But, you can't stay away from me, forever.'_


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT OWN SONIC OR ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS IN ANY WAY.

**Author's Note: **Heyy, readers! Sooo, remember that thing I told you about me thinking I would have a lot more homework to do because of school and how I wouldn't have as much free time as I used to to update this story and write a lot of chapters in little time? Remember when I said that ?

. . . I didn't say that ?

. . . . . oh. Welllll, I guess I'm saying it now. Haha .

But really though, I'm sorry it's taken so long to update. And I don't think you reviewers have ANY idea how much I appreciate you and the fact that you haven't given up on this story like it seems like I have. (Even though I didn't.)

But, I won't keep you waiting longer, soooooooo! Here's chapter 8! Enjoy! 3

**R&R! :)**

* * *

_The Stepbrother_

* * *

***WHOOOOOSH***

_That_ was the sound of a certain familiar blue hedgehog racing his way to his locker.

'_I've gotta get away from him . . . gotta get away . . . I __**have**__ to get away from him.'_ He thought.

The little _stunt_ that his 'older brother' pulled had riled him up. And he was most definitely **not **interested in sticking around him any longer. Sonic made it to his locker. He forced the door open, throwing all of his books into his locker and, once again, took out the only necessary book. Once he slammed it shut again, he looked around warily. He looked to his left, and he looked to his right. And then he looked to his left once more.

'_Nope. No sign of Shadow.'_ He thought. '_I'm in the clear . . . but for how long?'_ Sonic felt sick all of a sudden.

He swallowed in an attempt to get the dry feeling out of his throat, but to no cigar. All he ended up doing was swallowing a bunch of air.

The blue hedgehog slumped against his locker and hung his head, shamefully. And for good reason.

He was Sonic the Hedgehog!

People looked to him for help and guidance. If someone was hurt or in trouble, or even if that person needed someone to talk to, that person would talk to Sonic the Brave. Sonic the Courageous. Sonic the Fearless.

' _. . . Sonic the Chump.'_ He thought, sadly.

What was he going to do?

He couldn't run from Shadow for the rest of his life. It barely did him any good to run from him in school. Because not only would Shadow catch up to him eventually, but they both now lived under the same roof! In the same house! They slept in the same bedroom, and _for now_, in the same bed.

. . . well, not in the same bed for long, according to Sonic.

But still, how was he to manage Shadow when he could barely stand thinking about him, let alone be around him?

"Hey, Son— "

"AAH!" Sonic jumped and glared to his right, where his faithful friend, Tails, was standing in suspicion at Sonic's 'odd' behavior.

" . . . Umm . . . are you okay, Sonic?"

Sonic patted his chest a few times and exhaled slowly.

"I'm fine, Tails. Don't sneak up on me like that." The hedgehog reprimanded. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Tails' brows furrowed. " . . . No. I was just . . . eh . . . are you sure you're feeling okay?"

After Sonic collected himself, he placed his hands on his hips, with book in one hand, and faced his two-tailed friend. "Of course I am. I'm Sonic the hedgehog." Sonic tried to assure him. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Well, it's just that you left the classroom kinda fast." Tails explained. "And after that . . . that weird outburst in class . . . I just thought—"

"I'm perfectly fine, little buddy." Sonic grinned and put an arm around Tails for extra reassurance. "No need to worry about me. I'm just, er . . . having a moment, that's all."

Tails frowned slightly at this and took a few steps back from Sonic.

Sonic looked curiously at his friend. "Whatsa matter, now?"

"Well, last time you were having '_a moment'_, my head almost ended up in the toilet."

Sonic laughed out loud at Tails.

"I don't see what's so funny." Tails retorted shyly.

"Ah, it's not a moment like that, buddy." Said Sonic, and he and Tails began walking to their next class: Art. "And besides, you provoked that 'moment' out of me, anyways with your constant talking and being sarcastic.

"I only get it from the best, Sonic." Tails smirked. The azure hedgehog rolled his eyes at the comment.

"Let's just get to class, Tails." He put his arm around his companion, once more, and they both walked to class. Sonic, feeling content, forgot all about his family troubles.

. . . for the moment.

**~.~.~.~.~**

The second period art class consisted of almost the entire class being full. Sonic's only immediate friends in this class were Tails and Knuckles, but he was satisfied with the two. Said hedgehog walked through the room with his friend, Tails right by his side. They both walked to their seats, beside each other, and awaited their red-pigmented friend. Other classmates walked in one by one and crowded to their seats. Class hadn't begun yet, so of course the students saw to it to talk amongst each other.

"I wonder where Knuckles is." Tails questioned, innocently.

"I can probably guess where he is, right now." Sonic smirked.

"With Rouge?" Tails asked.

Sonic confirmed with a nod of his head. "That idiot can swear left and right he wants nothing to do with her, but I'm not stupid."

Tails just laughed.

"Really, Tails. Those stupid arguments they have are just pretenses to 'throw us off track'."

"Knuckles can't possibly think we're _that _naïve, Sonic." Tails began to take out his art supplies: his art pad, his pencils, and his eraser. "And besides, Knuckles is our friend. He would tell us things like this, right?"

"I dunno, buddy." Sonic shook his head. "Here he comes, though."

Knuckles walked in the room and made his way to his seat in front of Tails, not happily, but not in a bad mood, either.

"Well hey there, Knucklehead." The aforementioned glared at Sonic for his nickname. "What took you so long, _this_ time?"

"You say 'this time' like my being a little later here than you is an everyday occurrence, hedgehog."

"Well, it just might be." Sonic retorted sarcastically.

Knuckles sighed. "If you must know, my locker was stuck. I couldn't get my things out, so I had to request reinforcements."

"And did you _thank_ Rouge when she helped you get your locker open?" Sonic asked with a smirk.

Tails chuckled from behind his hand.

Knuckles, who was now glowering at the blue hog, replied, "I did _not _ask Rouge for help, dumbass."

"So she just _volunteered_ to help you, then?"

"No!"

"Then, what did you to do?"

"What makes you think I did _anything_ with her?"

"Well, didn't you?"

"I . . . uh, yeah . . . b-but—"

"Then, why are you trying to defend yourself when you know that _we _know that you were near her?"

"Why are **you **bothering **me** about what **I** did with **Rouge**?" Knuckles practically shouted. The entire art class, those that were present, looked over at Knuckles.

Knuckles looked around at the class. "And what are _you all_ looking at? Mind your damn business!"

Everyone turned away quickly, and Tails covered his ears once more.

"Oh. Sorry, Tails." Knuckles apologized. "It won't happen again."

Tails gave him a thumbs-up.

"Okay, class, okay. Settle down, and let's all make it to our seats, please. Class is just about to begin." A teacher walked in, placed her suitcase down on the desk, and said. "I hope everyone is prepared for class, today."

"I am, Ms. Lovett!" Tails raised his hand and shouted.

"That's great, Tails! You're such an over-achiever." Ms. Lovett said, cheerfully and with a smile. Tails gave her a toothy smile back as other classmates glared at him and mumbled incoherent words.

"Show off."

"Little brag-a-lot."

"He thinks he's _so _much smarter than the rest of us."

Sonic covered his face, then leaned over toward Tails. "Uh . . . little buddy, try to keep your accomplishments to yourself, okay?"

Tails frowned, but brushed everything off and moved along.

***BRRRIIIIINNNNNNGGG***

"And that was the bell. So, let's all get in our seats, class." Ms. Lovett walked from behind her desk to close the door to the classroom. "Today, we won't be needing our—"

Then, the door opened and slammed loudly, and everyone looked toward it. In walked none other than Shadow the hedgehog.

"Oh no." Sonic groaned and covered his face in his hand, again.

Shadow walked in slowly and quietly, a contrast to how he opened the door.

"Hey, there's that cutie, again." A girl from the previous class said.

"Wow, he _is _cute." Said another. Shadow ignored the comments. He was used to hearing them so often that he learned to ignore them, anyway. He squinted his eyes slightly as he searched around the room for someone in particular.

"Class, this is our new student, Shadow. Some of you may have met him in a previous class, but for those of you who haven't, let's try to make him feel welcome, shall we?"

'_Ah!' _Shadow thought. '_There he is.'_ He eyes landed on an exasperated Sonic, who obviously looked like he wasn't in the mood for another class with Shadow.

"Shadow, why don't we find you a seat, sweetheart. Class is supposed to be started and we wanna get going as soon as possible."

"Sweetheart my ass." Sonic mumbled.

"My _butt_." Tails corrected. Sonic sighed. And it was at that time that he decided to notice the vacant chair to his right. He groaned inwardly, not wanting a repeat of his last class. The last thing he needed was for Shadow to 'feel him up' like before, and for Sonic to have another 'sudden' outburst in front of the class, who would suggest that he get checked. Sonic looked toward the front of the classroom at Shadow and saw him smirking. His face turned into an even deeper frown than before.

"Shadow, there's an open seat next to Tammy. Why don't you sit there for the day, okay?"

After that was said, Sonic and Shadow exchanged expressions, Sonic's being suddenly bright and satisfied, and Shadow's being annoyed and discontent.

Shadow trudged to his seat slowly.

"Okay class, as I was saying before, we'll be doing some painting today, so we won't be needing—"

The door interrupted Ms. Lovett, once again. And once again, everyone turned to look at who it was.

In the doorway stood a troublesome looking green hedgehog with a pick in his mouth: Scourge.

"Whatsup, losers." He said with a cocky grin on his face.

"OH NO." Sonic exclaimed, wide-eyed and a little louder than before.

"What's wrong now, Sonic?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic motioned at the chair to his right. Knuckles' face lit up with understanding. "Hehe, I forgot for a second that Scourge sat there, too. And just when you thought you were in the clear from your brother."

Tails shrugged. "Tsk. Tsk. Well, I guess you win some and you lose some. And in this case, Sonic, you've definitely lost."

Sonic picked up an eraser and chucked harder than normal at Tails' head. The latter rubbed his minor injury and glared at Sonic.

Shadow, the last to look up, wondered who this hedgehog was, and why he carried an heir of cockiness about him. He didn't even know Scourge, but he made up in his mind that he didn't want to. He seemed like one of those guys that no one liked, so Shadow just saw him as a waste of space and time. He looked away from the green form.

"Scourge, please take your seat." Ms. Lovett said. "And why are you late . . . _again_?"

"Eh, it's not my fault. I had things to do."

"At school, Scourge, being _on time_ is one of those . . . _things _you have to do. Now, why is that so hard?"

Scourge shrugged and started to walk to his seat beside Sonic.

"It's not. I just don't care. Sue me."

Ms. Lovett exhaled loudly and searched her desk for her aspirin. She loved her job as a teacher, but students like Scourge always gave her doubts and second-guesses.

While the teacher searched for her belongings, Scourge had gotten to his seat, and Sonic was silently praying that Scourge would, somehow, not notice he was there. However, Scourge looked to his left, anyway.

"Hey, cutie." Scourge greeted Sonic.

Sonic remained absolutely quiet.

"So we're not speaking anymore, huh?" He leaned on his desk, playing with his toothpick, and asked.

"Fuck off." Sonic said, glaring.

Scourge chuckled. "I don't know why you try so hard to avoid me, babe. I know you want me." He spit his pick out to the floor and rested his chin on his hands. "And it's obvious that I want _you_."

"Scourge, I've told you a million times. That's not how I am. So, what don't you get?" Sonic raised his voice slightly.

His change in volume caught the attention of a certain black hedgehog who was staring off into space somewhere. The girls crowding around him wouldn't leave him alone, so eventually, he tuned them out. But, Sonic's voice caught his attention. He looked over, curiously, to see what the cause of Sonic's volume was about. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the green hedgehog, from a few minutes ago, a little too close to Sonic for Sonic's comfort.

"Ah. So, you're talking a little more, now, eh?" Scourge smirked. "I like it better when you talk to me. Your voice is too sexy, blue." Scourge touched Sonic's right leg.

"Stop it, Scourge." Sonic blushed deeply as he threw Scourge's hand off. He could feel his face heating up too quickly for his liking.

"Or what?" The green hedgie challenged. He caressed a little higher, now, on Sonic's thigh, and dangerously close to his personal space.

The two hedgehogs now had Shadow's full attention, and Shadow's attention only. How was it that no one else, especially the teacher, seemed to notice when these types of things happened? It didn't take that much to look up and scan the students. Shadow saw where Scourge had touched Sonic and how Sonic threw his hand off. The dark hedgehog didn't know why, but he felt something inside of him well up. And it wasn't something good. He didn't understand what exactly it was, but he knew that he felt angry and annoyed. But, why?

"I said _stop it_." Sonic threw his hand off, again.

"_Make _me." He put his hand back on, but even closer.

"_Scourge!_" Sonic whispered loudly.

Shadow had enough. He turned to get out of his chair to do something, but Tails and Knuckles both snapped their heads toward Scourge and Sonic. Knuckles immediately turned his glare to Scourge as he said, "Is he bothering you, Sonic?" But, no sooner had the two looked did Scourge retract his hand faster than lightning from Sonic's thigh.

For some reason, Sonic was speechless at what just occurred. "I-I . . . he . . .he was—"

"I was just seeing how Sonic was feeling. He didn't look too good, so I decided to check on him, myself. Calm down, _Knucklehead_." Scourge spat.

"Watch who you're talking to, bastard!" Knuckles said back.

Scourge scoffed, crossed his arms, and directed his attention back to the front.

Shadow saw that everything seemed to be handled, so he settled down and rearranged himself back in his seat, somewhat calmer than before.

"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails asked, worried.

"Whatever." Sonic stated. '_I've got to get the hell outta this school.'_ He thought. Being felt up more than once in one day was definitely not something that amused him.

"*phew* . . . well, now that I've finally found my aspirin, we can start art class." Ms. Lovett said.

"About time." Knuckles mumbled.

"Now, since we're painting today, we won't be needing . . ." Ms. Lovett paused and looked toward the door for any more possible interruptions. She smiled when she saw that there were no more. " . . .we won't be needing our pads, pencils, or our individual desks. We'll be working at the counters, over there." Ms. Lovett pointed to her right at the counters and the many stools lined up by them. "So, let's move over here so that we can get started." And Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and the rest of the class left their things, and they walked over to the counters.

"Painting?" Tails exclaimed. "Does she think we're six?"

"Tails, you're only, what, eight?" Knuckles scoffed.

"Just shut up, Knuckles." Tails glared.

Ms. Lovett handed out large pieces of paper to each student. Each student, then, walked over to a storage closet to retrieve the paints and brushes.

"We're trying to dig into our creative side, today, class. So, don't be afraid to get a little messy."

Scourge walked up to the left of Sonic and whispered in his ear, "I don't mind getting a little _messy_ with you, blue." Sonic looked at Scourge as his cheeks turned a bright red, and looked away. He was about to walk away from Scourge when he felt a tug at his hand.

"Why do you act so hostile and shy to me all the time, hm?"

"Because I _hate_ you." Sonic said.

"That's not true. Because no one hates Scourge the Hedgehog." Scourge flashed Sonic one of his oddly bright smiles. Everyone would admit it was odd because it was the smile was bright and nice-looking for someone as Scourge. Sonic rolled his eyes and tried to walk away again. But, Scourge grabbed Sonic by his waist and backed him up to the counter. Their faces and bodies were now dangerously close to each other. A few of the students that saw, knew about Scourge's sexuality and about how he often loved to flirt with Sonic. They merely brushed Scourge's interaction with Sonic as flirting and went back to what they were doing.

"What the hell, Scourge! Let me go."

"Where would the fun be in that, babe? I've got you right where I want you, anyways."

Sonic tried to push Scourge away so that he could get free, but Scourge was sure not to let him go so easily.

'_Where are my damn 'friends' when I need them?'_ Sonic thought angrily. Knuckles and Tails were no longer in sight.

Suddenly, the door burst open and in walked a secretary of the school. The class watched, even Sonic and Scourge, as she walked up to Ms. Lovett to whisper something that was incoherent to everyone, but Ms. Lovett.

"Uhh, class . . . I have to take care of something. I'll be right back, but start working on your paintings while I'm gone." And with that, she walked clear out of the room with the secretary following closely behind her.

Scourge turned back around to Sonic. "Well, sexy, I guess without any authority around, I can have you all to myself. Just the way I want you." Scourge said as he allowed his hand to travel to Sonic's inner thigh and sensually rub there.

"Sc-Scourge . . . please don't . . . not here, Scourge."

"Ohh, so you'd rather go somewhere private, eh?" He whispered.

"No, Scourge, that's not what I—"

"Whatever you say, baby." Scourge went to softly kiss at Sonic's cheek, which didn't do anything but encourage the blush on his face to spread. Sonic closed his eyes as Scourge's hand started an upward path that hadn't stopped since it reached Sonic's thigh, and now, Scourge was a few seconds away from groping Sonic's manhood.

"Ahh . . . Scourge! Don't!" Sonic pleaded. Scourge chuckled quietly and proceeded until he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He turned around glaring at whoever 'dared' interrupt his intimacy with Sonic. He was somewhat surprised to see a black hedgehog standing with his arms folded. He had an angry expression on his face, too. Sonic opened his eyes to see what was happening. He was also surprised at what he saw.

"Who the hell are you?" Scourge asked.

"I'm Shadow," Shadow said as he motioned to Sonic. "But, that's not important right now."

"Oh?" Scourge asked.

"What the fuck are you doing to him?" Shadow demanded in a calm tone, but Sonic could detect the hostility in his voice. And he was a little surprised at it and curious to know why it was there.

"I don't really think that's any of your business." Scourge turned around and crossed his own arms to face Shadow.

"Well since he's my brother, I'd say it _is _my business."

Scourge raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, he's your brother, is he?"

"_Step_-brother." Sonic added, irritated. Shadow glared past Scourge's shoulder to glare at Sonic straight in his eyes. Sonic merely glared back. Scourge sat back and watched the exchange between the two before laughing lightly.

"You two seem like you don't give two shits about each other." He inquired.

Nobody spoke.

"I'll take that as a yes." Scourge said. Then, he turned back to Sonic and grabbed him by his hips, again. "Then, it shouldn't matter _what _I do to Sonic . . . and I plan on doing _so _many pleasuring things to him." Scourge smirked and traced his finger along Sonic's chest.

The feelings that Shadow quelled earlier were starting to bubble up in his stomach, again. He was getting angry at the green hedgehog in front of him. But, for what? Why would _he _be angry at this . . . stranger . . . just for bothering _Sonic_? Shadow still couldn't put his finger on his behavior, but that didn't really matter to him, now. All he knew was that he was acting on his behavior and the strange feeling in his stomach. And this feeling told him to grab Scourge's hand away from any part of Sonic, so he did.

"Dude, what's your problem?"

"Right now? _You_ are."

Scourge turned to face Shadow. "Is that so?" Shadow crossed his arms and continued to glare at the green hedgehog.

"Hm, well, why don't you do something about it then, tough guy?"

Shadow was really getting agitated with the green hedgehog in front of him. It was eating at him inside to keep from punching him and starting an all-out fight, but Shadow restrained himself. Instead, he looked over at Sonic, who was eyeing Shadow to see what he would do. He looked around for a second, and then his eyes spotted his weapon. He looked back over to Scourge, and smirked. Scourge raised an eyebrow, wondering what Shadow was up to, but Shadow didn't say a word. Sonic was puzzled as well.

Shadow walked past Scourge over to another counter and picked up a rather largely sized can of red paint, and he began to walk back over to Scourge. When Scourge saw what Shadow had picked up, he went wide-eyed.

"H-hey! Whoa, buddy. If you're thinking about doing what I _think_ you're thinking about doing, that's definitely **not** something you wanna do!" Scourge tried to convince Shadow.

"And what is it exactly that you think I'm about to do?" Shadow asked as he walked closer and closer to Scourge.

Scourge began backing up toward a wall. "Don't try to play me for an idiot! I know _exactly _what you're planning on doing! And if you think you're gonna just dump a can of paint on me, then you're nuts!"

Shadow retorted, "Hm, maybe I am, and maybe I'm not."

Scourge glanced over at Sonic for reinforcements. "Blue, babe, help me out here."

Sonic was leaning back on the counter, grinning. "Sorry. Looks like you're on your own, here."

"Seriously, blue?" Scourge glared.

Scourge bumped into the wall behind and realized that he had ran out of retreating room. It seemed that, now, Scourge, Shadow, and the can of paint had everyone's attention. Everyone was looking with curious, excited eyes; some of them were wondering if Shadow would actually release the paint, and others were waiting for him to actually do it.

"Shadow, stop! I don't feel like doing this, right now!" Scourge said.

"Is that so?" Shadow mocked him from earlier. "Well, why don't you _do _something about it, then?" Those were the last words said before Scourge was practically swimming in a large amount of red paint. Shadow threw the can of paint all over the green hedgie. It splattered everywhere; it was on the floor, it splattered on doors, and it was completely covering the wall behind Scourge.

Shadow was definitely satisfied with his work. He looked over at Sonic to see his expression; Sonic was laughing, not loudly, but to himself. Shadow had to admit that he felt good about what he did. He also had to admit to himself that he felt good seeing Sonic's reaction at his handiwork. Seeing the azure hedgehog's face light up, his smile practically outshining the sun, and his emerald eyes sparkling at the sight, it brought a new feeling inside of him. He couldn't quite comprehend what it was, either, but he liked this feeling a little better than the one that Scourge brought to him. And he grinned slightly at the sight of the azure hedgie.

Scourge, on the other hand, was angrily trying to brush off the excess paint dripping off of him. "Big mistake, asshole."

This brought Shadow's attention back to Scourge, who was walking over to the counter that Shadow had gotten paint off of. He picked up a yellow can of paint, the same size as Shadow's, and he marched over to Shadow.

"See how you like **this**!" And he threw the paint, expecting it to splatter all over Shadow. However, he was slightly dumbfounded when Shadow ducked to avoid the paint, and instead, the paint splattered all over a female student.

"Omigosh! My hair!" The girl exclaimed. She glared up at Scourge, who smiled uneasily at the girl.

"Hehe . . . eh, sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Oh yeah?" The girl said. She walked over to the same counter and picked up a can of green paint. "Well, maybe I didn't mean to do _this_!" She, too, threw the paint onto another student, missing her actual target.

Before everyone knew it, an entire war of paint was initiated in the paint room. People were throwing cans of paint, and it was flying everywhere. Even Sonic, Shadow, and Scourge were in the midst of the war. Colors of blue, red, green, yellow, purple, and any other color thought of was seen flying at some point. Pretty soon, almost the entire room was decorated with paint. It looked like an abstract painting. The students looked no different. Clothes and skin were all covered in paint, the real colors of the objects being hidden by the substance.

Suddenly, Knuckles and Tails walked in, laughing between themselves at something, until they looked up and around the room. Tails gasped and Knuckles stood wide-eyed at the raging students and the paint cans being thrown, everywhere. Tails looked over and spotted his blue friend, getting ready to chuck another can of paint. "Sonic? Is that you?" Sonic looked up at Tails laughing.

"Yeah, I guess it is." And Sonic walked over to Tails and Knuckles.

"What happened in here?" Knuckles asked, amazed.

Sonic smirked. "Nothing that you guys can't be apart of." And with that, he took two buckets of paint from behind him and drenched his two friends in them. After being over the shock of Sonic's actions, the fox and the echidna joined in.

But not too much later did Tails and Knuckles join in the 'fun' did Ms. Lovett walk into the classroom. "Okay, class, let's get back to— AAH!"

The whole entire class stopped dead in their tracks. They looked up at Ms. Lovett like deer in headlights. Ms. Lovett, on the other side of the room, and being the only thing _not _painted, spoke. "What . . . happened . . . to my classroom?" She asked slowly and angrily.

No one said anything.

"Okay, then . . . I'll give everyone to the count of three . . . and if someone doesn't confess . . . who started this monstrosity . . . **everyone **will be receiving detention for the two weeks!" She reprimanded. "Now . . . one . . . two . . ."

Everyone suddenly pointed at Shadow, Scourge, and Sonic. And Ms. Lovett looked at the 'culprits' with anger and shame.

Sonic glanced over at Shadow who glanced over at Sonic and then Scourge.

'_Shit_!' They all thought.

They knew that there was no way that they were getting out of _this _one.


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT OWN SONIC OR ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS IN ANY WAY.

**Author's Note: **What's up, people! So, I started college this year and everything is definitely more different than high school. I mean, I knew that would be the case; I just didn't know everything would be COMPLETELY harder than high school. And all the homework and studying and crap is VERY time consuming, so I don't get a lot of time to update. But, since I'm almost at the end of my semester, I figured "Hey, why not update a story or something?" So, there you are. Also, I was planning on switching this fanfic to a mature rated one. I really want to! Can I get some feedback on whether I should or not? Anyways, here's another chapter of _The Stepbrother_. Sorry for making you guys wait, and thanks for all the reviews! I really love you guys! **R&R&Enjoy!**

* * *

_The Stepbrother_

* * *

" . . . no talking, no yelling, no touching, no texting, no whining, no getting up, no leaving this room for anything **less** than an emergency, of which _I_ will deem whether or not the situation is an emergency, keep your hands to yourself, remain in your chair at all times, no whispering . . ."

Thus was detention.

The detention proctor, a greyhound wearing a grey sweater, dull khakis, and plain square-ish glasses on his face, was going over the rules and regulations of what was to be done and not to be done during the dreadful moment of silent solitude in the small classroom for the three hedgies. Scourge was well acquainted with the ropes of detention, and Sonic had known from a few past experiences; Shadow, however, did not.

And so, in a long, dreary, monotonous voice, the proctor saw to it that Shadow understood the rules and regulations. _All_ of them.

Scourge sat in a reclined position at the desk closest to the window; his hands were rested behind his head, his eyes were closed, and his feet were cross up on the desk. Sonic, set in between both Shadow and Scourge and irritated as he could possibly be, had his face down on the desk with one hand on his head in an exasperated manner. Shadow, not as irritated as Sonic, just glared at the proctor as if ready to strangle him in order to make him shut up.

" . . . and before you know it, the time will be over." The proctor finished, gloomily. "I'm going to the teacher's lounge to eat my lunch; the bell will ring when time is up." And with that, the proctor left the room. The hedgehogs watched the proctor until he shut the door and walked down the hall to the teacher's lounge. When it was clear that he was out of earshot, the azure hedgehog spoke up.

"I hope you two know that this all your faults." Sonic glared at both of them.

Scourge chuckled, still reclined with a toothpick in his mouth. "How on earth is this _my_ fault, blue?" He opened an eye and looked at Sonic.

"If you had left me alone like a _good_ little student, none of this would have ever happened." Sonic reasoned and glared at the accused.

Scourge, now with both of his eyes open, stared at Sonic in silence for a time before speaking and moving from his previous position to lean closer to the blue hedgehog. "All you had to do was give in to me, blue. From the outburst earlier this morning to the little paint stunt that _someone_ decided to pull last period . . ." Scourge took this time to glance with narrowed eyes at Shadow, who, at first, was merely observing the conversation with his chin rested on his fist.

"So, you're saying that this was _my_ fault?" Shadow questioned.

"No, stupid, I was talking to the wall behind you." Scourge pointed and remarked sarcastically. "And how did _you_ end up in all of this, anyway?"

"Because I do what I want." Was Shadow's reply.

Scourge shook his head. "No, it's because you stuck your nose in business it didn't belong in."

Shadow glared. Business he didn't belong in? If _anything_, the business was now more of his than it was Scourge's. Shadow stood up.

"Sonic is my brother, now." Shadow stated.

"_Step_-brother." Sonic corrected, earning a glare from Shadow.

"Sonic is my 'step'-brother, now, which devastatingly makes us family. Therefore, any business of his is automatically business of mine." Shadow crossed his arms in a matter-of-fact manner as if the conversation should have ended then and there.

"Nuh-uh!" The younger blue one protested.

"Yuh-huh," Shadow answered the younger one and returned his attention back to Scourge. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll leave him alone." Shadow demanded.

"Aww!" Scourge removed his glasses, and mockingly placed a hand on his heart. "That's really touching, Shadow. But, ya' know what?" He got up and walked up behind Sonic, who was a little nervous at the moment. "You can promise and threaten me all you want." Scourge snaked his arms over Sonic's shoulders, and he leaned down close to the azure's face. "Nothing's gonna stop me from getting what I want. Nothing's stopped me before, and nothing will _now_." Then, he let his right arm glide down Sonic's chest to his lower abdomen, rubbing it slowly. Sonic was frozen right on the spot, a pink hue undoubtedly formed on his face. He was so embarrassed, he could barely move. Shadow, on the other hand, was shaking angrily at Scourge's ministrations to Sonic's body. A feeling akin to what he had felt in the art room began to well up in him, again. A hostile feeling. And Shadow had a hard time quelling it, at the moment.

Scourge smirked as he watched Shadow's reaction. And why wouldn't he? He got to piss off the asshole that landed him in detention, and at the same time, get close and personal with someone he definitely held a torch for. He was killing two birds with one stone. And he was pleased with himself. He decided to take his actions further.

He leaned toward Sonic's left ear, and he whispered huskily and audibly enough for Shadow to hear, as well.

"Hey, babe, if you submit to me right here and now, I promise I'll make you love _every single minute_ of what I plan on doing to you." He smirked. Sonic's cheeks couldn't have possible turned any pinker. He knew what dirty-minded things the green hedgehog was suggesting, and although he loathed the mere thought of Scourge's sickly thought up scenarios, let alone being touched by him, he couldn't help getting hot by what Scourge was telling him. For the love of Chaos, he wasn't perfect. His mouth became as dry as the Sahara, his voice wouldn't work, and he was getting hotter with every second that Scourge spent touching him. He _had _to get away. But how?

"_Please_, don't make me wait, baby. I want you _and _your beautiful body right this second."

Scourge's hands seemed to be covering lots of ground. Fast. His left hand moved to ghost over Sonic's chest, while his right hand was traveling down a southern path. The hand was getting closer and closer to Sonic's privacy, a privacy that was soon to be invaded if something was not done.

"Scourge!" Sonic finally spoke, closing his eyes in anticipation of the unwanted touch. The hand was even closer.

"All I need you to do is lie down on that desk, spread those _sexy_ legs of yours, and w—UNGHH!" Out of nowhere, it seemed, Scourge was hit hard in the stomach, and he was sent flying across the room and into the wall. He dropped on the floor with a thud, and he immediately put a hand on his abused stomach. He glared up to see who _dared_ treat him in such a distasteful way, and his eyes widened slightly at who was in front of him.

Shadow stood in front of Scourge with the angriest look on his face. With narrowed eyes, bared fangs, and hands balled into fists, Shadow, shaking like mad, was ready to kill. The penalty of delivering death would outreach far beyond detention, but the feeling inside of Shadow didn't leave him much room to care.

"W-what was that for?" He stammered, a little more on alert and on end now that he knew the onyx meant business.

Sonic raised an eyebrow at Shadow's behavior. Why was he acting this way? What reason did Shadow have to get mad at Scourge?

Shadow started to walk slowly to a grounded Scourge, cracking his knuckles as he walked. Scourge gulped at this. "If you don't know by now, maybe I should just _beat_ the sense into you to make you understand." Shadow grumbled.

Scourge stood up and placed his hands up in a white-flag type manner. "Calm down, Shadow. I didn't hurt the guy or nothin'."

Shadow chuckled, darkly. "Well, I'm going to hurt **you**." And those were his last words before he lunged at his target. He grabbed him by the collar of his leather jacket, and he began to punch him left and right, showing zero remorse. Shadow aimed everywhere. The face, the chest, the arms, the gut, and everywhere else he could land a fist on Scourge. Shadow knocked the green hedgehog everywhere he could; into desks, walls, shelves, and anything else. He, then, grabbed Scourge by the collar again, he threw him once more across the room. Sonic did nothing but look on at the brutal actions that his stepbrother was taking on Scourge. He glanced at Shadow, and for the life of him, he tried to figure out what could have triggered Shadow's sudden behavior.

Not one idea popped up.

Not one.

Scourge picked himself up, and he dusted off his leather jacket. He began to get fed up of being punched and tossed around. A glare found its way on Scourge's face, too. "I'm getting _sick_ of this bullshit! You want a fight, Sparky? You got it!" And with that, Scourge and Shadow lunged at each other. Shadow used his upper strength advantage to land punch upon punch on Scourge, successfully landing hits on his target. Scourge managed to land a few hits on Shadow, too, but he wasn't nearly as agile and powerful as Shadow. He tried to block some of the onyx hog's advances, but he only delayed the inevitable. Shadow was furious. And when he was furious, he clearly was not a force to be reckoned with. Sonic swallowed hard.

'_Should I do something?'_ He thought to himself. _'And if I do, who should I be helping?'_ He looked between the two fighting fuzzies. Should he have helped his stepbrother, the one who he couldn't seem to find _any _common ground with? Or should he assist Scourge, the one who continued to sensually touch him and just would not take 'no' for an answer? He looked between both of them fighting, and he knew that he had to make a decision before one of them ended up dying in detention. As he looked on, he realized that Scourge was clearly fighting a losing battle. Scourge's leather jacket was torn in five different places, he was bruised almost all over, and his lip was busted from being punched repeatedly in his face. It was a wonder that he was still holding his own. Sonic glanced at Shadow, and his eyes widened. Shadow's attacks seemed to have sped up; he looked like something that was spit straight out of hell. Sonic noticed an abnormally dark aura around Shadow that he had never seen during that week of Shadow's stay. How could he be so angry?

Sonic rose out of his seat, and moved over to where the fighting hedgehogs had gotten in the room. He looked out of the classroom's door to check for anyone coming; it was a wonder that no one could hear the bumping and thumping from the brawl, and that no one had come into the room, already.

He _had_ to stop Shadow and Scourge. _Now_.

". . . Uh, guys?" He started out. "Sh-shadow?" The black hedgehog didn't hear him. He was solely focused on making the green hedgehog pay for the previous actions with his stepbrother. Just thinking about it made Shadow's blood boil! And as a result, he grabbed a helpless and tired out Scourge by the collar once more with his left hand and just beat him in the face repeatedly with his right.

"Shadow, stop." Sonic called out. The blue hedgehog wanted Scourge to pay, not _die_. "Shadow, you're gonna kill him or something. Stop."

Shadow still wasn't listening, and Scourge looked like he was falling in and out of consciousness. Shadow was going to kill him.

"Shadow, **stop**!" Sonic grabbed Shadow's shoulder and yelled.

Shadow's head snapped back at Sonic and glared at him. Sonic gulped out of nervousness; Shadow truly looked like a dark, unfeeling being with no current connection to sanity. The dark, older hedgehog dropped his victim from his clutches and began advancing toward Sonic. Sonic's eyes widened and he began retreating, walking backwards. But, Shadow just kept on advancing, growling while revealing his teeth as a warning that he was the wrong one to mess with.

"Sh-shadow, what are you doing?"

Shadow said nothing.

"Get away from me." Sonic tried again. But, Shadow moved closer and closer. When Sonic's back finally met the wall, he became even more anxious; no place to run and no place to hide.

Damn detention. Damn being stuck in a room with two psychos. And damn Shadow.

"Shadow, don't touch me or I'll—" He didn't get the chance to finish his empty threat before Shadow grabbed his stepbrother's chin with a finger. He bent down to Sonic's level, and spoke. "—Or what? You'll beat me up?" Shadow teased with a dark smirk on his face. "I'm very dangerous, Nicky. And I suggest that if you don't want to end up like your little lover over there . . ." Sonic blushed as he looked to where Shadow was pointing at an unconscious Scourge. While half of Sonic was embarrassed at what Shadow had said, half of him was angry at what Shadow had said.

_Lover? _As if!

". . . you'll stay out of my way. Got that?" Still looking over at Scourge, Sonic nodded at Shadow's warning. However, this wasn't enough for Shadow. Shadow wanted Sonic's undivided attention while he was speaking to the blue one; it made Shadow even more ticked that Sonic's attention was diverted by the sole cause of all the hostility that took place in the room. He used his hand to grab Sonic's chin, and he pushed Sonic a little harder to the wall by pressing himself closer to the younger hedgehog.

"Are you listening to me, hedgehog?" The sudden close in proximity between the two had startled Sonic. He was at a complete loss of words, even when a simple nod or shake of the head in response would have sufficed. "When I'm speaking to you, I want your undivided attention. Do you understand?"

Sonic didn't respond. He kept trying to avoid Shadow's nerve-wrecking, yet strangely . . . attractive gaze.

"Look at me, Sonic." Shadow gently yanked Sonic's chin upward so that Sonic would look him in his face. Shadow wanted to _see_ Sonic's eyes so that he would know that Sonic fully understood how serious he was being. And when Sonic finally made eye contact, to Sonic's dismay, he found himself not able to immediately divert his own eyes from those sparkling, glistening emerald orbs that held so much emotion in them. He could clearly tell that Sonic hated physical contact, and that he was not helping by being so blunt and forward with Sonic. But, better him than Scourge, right? How could Scourge even think that he had a _right_ to put his hands on someone with eyes this beautiful? He was unworthy to even think the thought, Shadow thought. Shadow felt entranced by Sonic's beautiful eyes. And he cursed Sonic for blinking. Every blink took a millisecond away from Shadow being able to observe those breath-taking emeralds. And how _did_ his stepbrother's eyes entrance him, anyway? Wasn't he only trying to prove a point earlier?

"_Sh-shadow?_"

"Ahh , wh-what?" Shadow answered the voice that came from under him.

" . . . can . . .can you . . . eh, ya' know . . . g-get off of me, now?" Sonic stuttered, trying to sound unshaken by Shadow's forwardness, and by the way Shadow was just looking at him as if he wanted to eat him. _'What is that about?'_ Sonic thought.

Shadow, without a sound, averted his eyes from Sonic, who did the same, and jumped off of him as if he had just touched a burning flame. A second passed, and the two stepbrothers found themselves looking up at each other again, trying to figure out what took place in the time in detention, and how they ended up the way they did. Another few seconds passed by, and loud bell was heard. The two covered their ears and shut their eyes tight.

***BRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII NNNNNNNNGGGG***

The classroom door opened, and the boring proctor stuck his head in and said, "Detention is over. Go to class." Neither blue nor onyx had to be told twice. They both gathered up their things and their bags, and they headed for the door. When they arrived at the entrance at the same time, they glanced over at each other. Sonic glared at Shadow, a blush threatening to creep back up on his face, and Shadow just glared back at Sonic, wondering if he was imagining a pink hue arise on his brother's face. Sonic just 'hmphed' Shadow's glare, and he walked off to his next class. Shadow rolled his eyes and did the same.

And Scourge stayed right where he was, on the floor and unconscious.


End file.
